A Thousand Tomorrows
by Miss Nihilist
Summary: In honor of Phanniemay, a series of short oneshots to celebrate a show that had a painful amount of potential. [ "Phanniemay" is a yearly challenge around the Danny Phantom fandom, which involves doing something very every day in May (artwork, writing, cosplay, etc.) centered around each day's theme. ] NOTE: CHAPTERS DO NOT CARRY OVER.
1. Day 1: Electricity

**A/N: I'm pretty sure that these are supposed to be used for fanart, but I wanted to try my hand in writing some more for this fandom, and maybe actually finishing something for once. I hope it goes well.**

 **This is a sort of in-between scene, from the season 2 fourth episode, "The Ultimate Enemy." If you haven't seen that, I doubt that this will make much sense.**

* * *

Through all of the years he had spent alone, and the amount of energy he had forced into developing his powers, becoming as strong as possible, Phantom had yet to discover anything in this world or the next that was more frustrating than Mario Kart.

It was _illogical_. But maybe, over the ten years he'd lived without humanity to weigh him down, Phantom had just become used to all obstacles obliterating in his path. He so rarely had to try anymore. And all of his abilities, all of the energy he possessed, all of the millions he had agonized and maimed, wasn't going to help him win a stupid game on the Wii.

Next to him, he recognized Tucker cheering as he once again zoomed past the finish line. It took an impressive amount of self-control to keep from throttling his old friend. He felt the blue eyes of his disguise turn red for a moment and felt the plastic control in his grip creak as his hold threatened to snap it.

"Looks like you got me again, Tuck," Phantom said, his voice clipped. He sounded like a teenager again, and it unnerved him. He tried to distance himself as much as possible from the pathetic "hero" that he used to be.

Tucker didn't seem to notice that anything was amiss. He laughed. "I almost don't believe it! Dude, you usually destroy me in this game."

Destroy? Phantom had to keep back a smile. That would be so much easier than sitting in Tucker's room, pretending to be even the least bit interested in a video game and the mindless high school drama that Sam and Tucker rattled on about nonstop.

"I'll say," Sam sighed, setting her remote down and leaning back on her hands. Her attention was on Danny now, and Phantom had to quickly crush any feelings that rose as a result. She had always… confused him, and the same seemed to hold true even long after he had stopped caring about her. "Danny, you've been acting really weird since you got back from that awful future? Are you sure that you don't want to talk about it?" She pressed, concerned.

Phantom shook his head, and struggled for a moment before putting a smile on his face that hopefully wasn't too fake. He hadn't smiled earnestly in ten years. "It's alright, guys, seriously," He reassured them. Now that he had fallen into the rhythm of it, pretending to be a teenager again was almost too easy. "Look, the important part is that I got away, and we won't let that future become true." He was lying through his teeth, but they didn't need to know that.

Unfortunately, Sam had always been too smart for her own good. She reached out and put a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder. Immediately, Phantom bristled, pulling back from her touch as electricity ran through his body. There it was, _again_. When she had hugged him and held his hands after he had "returned" from the future, the same thing had happened. Then, it had been a minor annoyance, but now, it was annoying him.

Being a human was awful. The food that he had swallowed for appearance's sake had been dry and tasteless. His body felt constricting, like a prison. He hated the petty, mundaneness of it all. The small talk that drove him up the wall, having to walk everywhere, being tired just because the weather was a little too hot. He would trade his human self again and again, without hesitation. He loathed everything about humans. But, then, _why_ did they make him feel so—?

Sam took his hands in hers, and he visibly recoiled. Heat nearly burned his palms, and there was that same tingle of energy. "Danny," she said quietly, and that was somehow even worse than touching him, because it shot energy straight through his core, "we're here for you. Anything you need. Ever. You know that, don't you?"

The way she spoke made his stomach churn and Phantom convinced himself that it was out of disgust. It didn't matter how an insignificant human girl made him feel. Her and Tucker both — they would be dead by this time tomorrow if everything went well.

For some reason, the thought didn't comfort him the way it was supposed to. But he couldn't dwell on that. If Phantom let go of anger, let go of hatred… if he stopped moving forward, and stopped existing, then what would he have left?

He dropped Sam's hands abruptly and got to his feet. "I'm going home," He said, speaking as calmly as he could. Sam looked like she wanted to protest, but the look in his eyes made her pause. Good. Already, Phantom was on the verge of ripping his human skin off simply to feel free again, and more pressure would not help.

He left Tucker's room, ignoring the whispers that broke out between the two of them as soon as he had shut the door. He could always listen in on them, but he told himself that he didn't care. All of the gossip in the world wasn't going to keep them safe, come tomorrow.

Phantom took a deep breath, even though he didn't need it. Infuriatingly, stupid little human habits still calmed him, occasionally. He let his feet leave the floor, and turned invisible, phasing through the ceiling. _This_ was much better. Flying, he understood. That was something that hadn't changed in ten years. Even invisible, Phantom loved the way the wind and fresh air seemed to fix everything.

In the sky, he didn't have to think about Sam. He didn't have to acknowledge her comforting voice, her genuine smiles, the sidelong glances she always gave him when she thought he wasn't looking… None of it mattered. In the cool air, the electricity between them could be nonexistent. It almost reminded him of the Accident, so long ago, when he had had his life very painfully split in half. He couldn't remember the details very well anymore, but the way Sam made him feel was almost worse, in a way. Being electrocuted, he could understand. It was simple. But the way a brush of her skin could make him seize up was not normal. It wasn't right.

He had spent most of their friendship in the past running away from those feelings — what was one more day?

* * *

 **A/N: This has very little to do with actual electricity, but I'm going to count it, because it was fun to write.**


	2. Day 2: Green

"Are you okay?"

It took Sam a moment to process that she was being spoken to, let alone formulate a proper response. "Mngh?" She mumbled instead, lifting a hand to touch her temple tenderly. A sharp pain flashed through her head, and she groaned. "W… what happened?"

A familiar presence crouched down next to her, and Sam took comfort in the cool contrast to her overheated skin. Danny had an arm around her shoulders, and reached up with his other hand to touch her temple. He already made a room cooler just by standing there, but Sam let out a pleased sigh as he frosted his fingertips over and used them to trace over the swollen areas.

What had they been fighting? She couldn't remember. It must not have been too bad, seeing as how Danny didn't look very banged up. He had a shallow cut on his cheek, but it had barely cut into his skin at all.

"Sam?" There was worry in his voice. "I got Tucker to go hold my mom and dad off, so we don't have a lot of time. Are you alright? I'm not going to fly you anywhere if you have a concussion."

It was hard to focus on what was actually happening, on the seriousness of the situation. Danny sounded so afraid, but all Sam could do was blink dumbly. Had she ever told him how beautiful he looked? It was an odd choice of words, but she couldn't think of any other way to put it. His ghostly aura made his entire body glow faintly, illuminating everything that his normal, baggy clothes tried to hide. How the years of fighting had made him develop muscles, how age had strengthened his jaw, how time had grown his hair out until it was always brushing over his eyes in the most distracting way…

What green eyes. They glowed, too, and despite the shining concern she saw when she looked at Danny, Sam smiled. "You have amazing eyes," she mumbled, so that it all came out as one word.

Danny seemed confused. "Um… thank you? Jeez, you must have really hit your head hard." He shifted to pick her up, standing with Sam in his arms, and she placed her arms around his neck automatically. As he promised, he wasn't flying very high. They levitated just barely above the ground, though it was still much faster than walking.

Sam closed her eyes, resting her bruised head against his cool chest. It was like an ice pack, almost. His temperature often hovered around 85 degrees when he was human, but as a ghost, Danny naturally became as frigid as ice. She had never been bothered by it.

Her body tingled as Danny phased them through a wall, and he looked around to make sure the coast was clear before setting her on her feet. The room was dark, and Danny lit up one of his hands with an ectoplasmic energy ball so that she could see easier. And there was that color again.

It didn't make any sense. The entire ghost zone was green. Many of the ghosts they had fought were green, or fired green energy balls like Danny did. Why was his… different? Why did his electric eyes draw her in, instead of push her away?

"Danny," Sam sighed, sitting down, "you're an enigma." She wasn't injured enough to start ranting to her best friend about how beautiful his eyes were, and that seemed to cover most of how she felt. Danny was a puzzle like nothing she had ever seen before.

That seemed to lighten his heavy mood, because Danny smiled. "I try," he joked. "Here, use this for your head." He put out his faint light source, and materialized a thin slab of ice, holding it out for Sam to take.

It glowed in her hands, and Sam had to bite back a frustrated groan when she noticed the green ectoplasm swirling beneath the surface. The effect was mesmerizingly and frustratingly beautiful. His ice lasted longer this way, but did Danny really need to make everything he did so endearing? It wasn't helping her headache.

"Thanks," Sam muttered, holding it to the back of her head.

There was a brief flash of white light, and when she looked up again, Danny Phantom wasn't there. Instead, Danny Fenton crouched down next to her. "Think you're ready to go face my adoring public?" He joked. Sam smiled faintly. Another day, another news story blaming all of their problems on the ghost boy.

"Almost," she reassured him. "Just… another minute."

The silence between them was nice. Danny was nice. And his eyes were no longer green, no longer quite as spectacular, but they were beautiful all the same.

It was infuriating.


	3. Day 3: DNA

Maddie squinted, the tip of her tongue sticking out of her mouth almost childishly as she concentrated on the task before her. She carefully placed the single hair into the beaker, sighing in relief as she took a step back.

As always, fighting Phantom didn't end in anything except him running away. Again. She was starting to give up on ever catching him in a direct way. But hopefully, if this worked, she wouldn't have to.

A small hatch opened in the wall, and the vial was grabbed by a delicate set of pincers. Her sample was pulled into the computer, and Maddie stood with her hands on her hips as the computer analyzed what she had given it.

The Fenton Anti-Ecto Gravitator had worked like a charm. It was something that Maddie had designed specifically for use on Phantom. It temporarily shortened out a ghost's powers, and pulled them closer with a beam of highly condensed ectoplasmic energy. Maddie remembered the experience vividly, and she couldn't help but smile as the machine rattled away.

Seeing that look of terror in those normally confident eyes had been everything she had expected it to be and more. Of course, the weapon couldn't hold a ghost for very long, but a second had been all she needed to grab a handful of his shocking white hair. Even through her gloves, it had felt… real. The scientist in her was intrigued, but the ghost-hunter part didn't give a damn. Either way, she had managed to get a cluster of hairs into a plastic bag, and he predictably flew off. She had always wondered where Phantom went when he wasn't terrorizing the town and playing "hero," and now, she would finally know.

The machine's humming quieted, and a small chime alerted her to the most recent development. Maddie watched the screen as line after line of Gs, Ts, As, and Cs, rolled across her screen.

Fascinating.

In the past, tracking Phantom's ectoplasmic signature had never worked. Half the time, the device couldn't get any result, or it would key in on Danny, no matter how many times Maddie took apart and rebuilt the useless thing.

This was… well, she had always known that Phantom was special. His incredible power, his unnaturally humanoid appearance, the apparent "emotions" he possessed… But this was something else entirely. Phantom had DNA. He had _human_ hair, made with keratin, and containing proper animal cells. It was an unfounded discovery. After she had grabbed the hairs, the wispy white aura that surrounded them had faded, and the brilliant white had dulled to an unpleasant shade of gray. She had wondered why they weren't disappearing, like severed parts of ghosts we're supposed to, and now she knew. It was because they were _real_.

It was also impossible.

Ghosts _couldn't_ have physical attributes to their manifested forms. By definition, Phantom wouldn't even be a ghost. He shouldn't even _have_ a unique ecto-signature, let alone be able to fly, to shoot ectoplasmic blasts, to wield ice like he was made of it…

Maddie frowned, and plugged the cord leading from her computer into the small device sitting on the counter nearby, that had gone unused until that moment. Phantom's DNA was downloading into the Fenton Finder 2.0 — after the disaster that trying to track Phantom's ecto-signature had been, Maddie thought it was best to try a different approach. Ghosts could quiet their cores long enough that a reader wouldn't pick up and ectoplasmic activity. But with DNA, Maddie would be able to find him, even if he was only a dead ball of putrid protoplasm.

She thought about waiting for Jack to get home, but quickly decided not to. Phantom was always three steps ahead of them. It was as though he knew what weapons and strategies she would use a week before she actually did. Not this time. Jack was gone for the weekend, scouting college campuses with Jazz, and Maddie couldn't afford to wait for him to return. As much as she loved her husband, Maddie knew very well that Jack had his faults. He was too loud and too clumsy for a mission this delicate. But she would make it up to him.

After she caught Phantom, Jack could make the first incision.

As soon as she heard the tracker beeping, Maddie eagerly snatched it up. The processing was completed, and now, all she had to do was let it scan the area for her quarry. She was expecting it to take a few minutes, although she was taken aback when the Fenton Finder began rapidly beeping after only nine seconds. There was a flashing white dot on the small screen, rapidly approaching her location. The ghost boy was coming here? Now?

Maddie frowned. Further interactions with Phantom only confused her more and more. _Why_ was he so different? What made him special? Before she prepared for dissection, Maddie was determined to force Phantom to answer her. All of the questions that had left her awake at night.

Normally, she was the type to go in, guns blazing, and not stop long enough to think beyond her next attack.

But, this time, she prepared herself. She took a deep breath, and grabbed two smaller ecto guns, tucking them in her utility belt. She had the tracker in one hand, so should couldn't afford to take one of the heavy weapons with her. Not that she needed to — not when Phantom was stupid enough to come to her home.

The dot slowed down as it got closer, and Maddie calmed herself, preparing for a fight. Phantom wouldn't go willingly, but for once, she had the upper hand. Hopefully, that would be enough.

She watched the blinking dot stop completely for a moment, and then, from the second floor, there was the sound of footsteps. Footsteps? From a snooping ghost? The sound of voices wasn't far behind, and Maddie quickly took the opportunity to hide behind a bulky prototype. It was something Jack was fiddling with, and for once, Maddie didn't mind how big it was. It hid her from the view of anyone coming down the stairs, and gave her a great look at the ghost portal. She had always thought that Phantom was somehow gaining access to their lab, and this would prove it, as well as put an end to it.

The voices grew louder, and Maddie picked out three of them. They sounded familiar, so much so that she felt frustrated when she couldn't immediately place them. The door to the basement opened, and she could finally understand what they were saying.

"...six times in the last week," a voice sighed, and Maddie realized with a start that the person speaking was Danny's friend, Sam. What was she doing with the ghost boy? Maddie wanted to jump out and ask, but she kept herself still. _Be patient_ , she scolded herself. _Wait until you have visual._

"Ugh, I know. We've got a test on Friday, and I haven't even looked at the study guide thanks to all of these stupid ghost attacks," Phantom's echoing voice replied, and Maddie wondered if she had heard him right. A test? Study? But he was a ghost. Furthermore, he had said, " _we've_ got a test," implying that he and Sam will have the same test.

They stopped in front of the ghost portal, backs turned to her, and Maddie tensed to attack. There he was — the ghost she had spent a year and a half of her life trying to grab. He wasn't hovering for once. He was standing in between Tucker and Sam, with a Fenton Thermos clasped in his gloved hands. _How did he get his hands on one of those?_

Tucker typed something in on his PDA, and then sighed. "Yeah, dude. That's been seven attacks from the Box Ghost alone, but man, Skulker is persistent. You should get your parents to install a lock on this thing that actually works," he remarked, tapping his knuckles against the ghost portal. Maddie narrowed her eyes. As if she would ever allow a ghost to put a lock on her portal. It was her pride and joy.

Phantom ran a hand through his hair, and sighed, placing the Thermos in the emptying canister and letting the ghosts he trapped be sucked back into the Ghost Zone. "I guess. I just wish that they didn't have so much free time. It's been getting harder to balance school, sleep, ghost fighting, and keeping up a normal appearance so that no one figures out my secret identity." He grabbed the empty Thermos. "Maybe we should try studying while fighting ghosts again. It's not like it could make me any worse at maintaining information than I already am."

Maddie watched, bewildered, as a ring of light suddenly appeared around Phantom's waist. She had never seen anything quite like it before. Was it an attack? Quietly, Maddie slipped out of her hiding place, grabbing one of the small ecto guns at her waist. If they weren't powerful enough, there was certainly plenty of other options in her lab. There was a bright flash of light, and when Maddie focused again, Phantom was gone.

In his place, Danny _Fenton_ stood as still as a statue, his baby blue eyes impossibly wide, and his hands shaking as he clutched the Thermos. They locked eyes, and the gun that Maddie was holding tumbled from her hand as she took a step back. _How?_ Danny looked as normal as ever in his baggy clothes. He wasn't glowing, or floating, or shooting anyone with ecto beams. He looked, on all accounts, _absolutely terrified._

At first, Maddie thought he had just been overshadowed. Yes, that was it. Phantom had just used her poor, unsuspecting boy to hide his ghostly self. But that didn't explain the costume change, or the ethereal ring of light. "Danny?" She tried, and her voice came out shaky. Maddie had meant to ask him what he was doing, but the words wouldn't come. She couldn't think of anything to say.

Sam and Tucker looked just as surprised as Danny, though they didn't share his raw _fear_. They recovered first, and Sam placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. He stiffened, and she hesitated. "Maybe we should… come back later."

That made Maddie take a step forward. All three teenagers took a step back, but she couldn't help but advance. She worried that if she let Danny leave now, he wouldn't come back. "Danny, please," she tried again.

It didn't seem to get through. Danny looked like a cornered animal. Sam grabbed his hand, and in return, Danny took hold of Tucker's. Another cry of her son's name died in Maddie's lips, and he jumped the air. She could only watch, equal parts fascinated and terrified as he floated up towards the ceiling and disappeared with his friends.

In her hands, the Fenton Finder blinked steadily, as though nothing had happened. Her hands were shaking, and Maddie's mouth went dry as she watched the dot move further and further away.

Maddie had been expecting the Finder to lead her to the ghost boy. She hadn't been expecting the truth.


	4. Day 4: Eclipse

Biting back an annoyed sighed, Jack struggled to tighten the telescope into place. Try as he might, his hands were simply too big to get a good grip. Seeing that her father was getting frustrated, Jazz rolled her eyes and got up.

"Here, let me do it, dad," she said, taking the small pieces from him and easily pressing them into place.

"Thanks, Jazz," Jack breathed a sigh of relief. "You do that, and I'll go check on the snacks!" He hurried off to where they had parked the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle. Although, it was only supposed to be an RV on this trip.

Maddie looked up from her magazine. "Hurry back, Jack! The total eclipse will be starting soon." She set down the latest copy of _Genius_ magazine, and looked around. "Where did Danny and his friends run off to?"

Jazz stiffened and then gave an awkward laugh. "Oh, um, he said something about helping Sam and Tucker find a bathroom," she said off the top of her head.

"Bathroom?" Maddie frowned. "All three of them? I know that they're all attached at the hip, but…" She shrugged, and Jazz relaxed. "Well, as long as they're back in time for the eclipse, I suppose it's not important."

* * *

Danny knelt on the ground, pulling his own telescope out of his backpack. It didn't have a stand like his parents' did, but it wasn't going to get a lot of use from the ground, anyway. "Are you guys ready?" He asked, turning to Sam and Tucker.

The telescope was handed over to Sam, and she nodded. For once, she looked genuinely excited, and it wasn't just because she had convinced her parents to let her watch this with Danny and Tucker instead of her family. "More than anything," she nodded. "You're not going in that get up though, are you?"

He was only wearing his regular clothes, but Danny smiled anyway, rolling his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I can take a hint." There was a flash of white light, and Danny Phantom walked over to put his arms around Sam and Tucker's waist. "How much longer until the eclipse?" He directed his echoing question at Tucker, who had his face tucked away in his PDA, as usual.

How he had internet out in the forest was a mystery in of itself, but Danny chose not to question it. "Just one minute until the moon fully covers the sun," he announced. There was no reason to watch it second to second, so Tucker put his PDA into his pocket and copied Sam by putting his arm around Danny's waist.

They had all flown at some point, but nonetheless, Danny still liked the way Tucker and Sam were surprised by it. Their feet left the ground as Danny floated them up, and he couldn't help but smile as his friends fumbled and struggled to adjust to the sensation of weightlessness. After a moment, they managed to balance themselves.

"Finally ready?" Danny joked. On reflex, he turned intangible as Sam went to jab him with the telescope, and felt it pass through him before she pulled it back.

She rolled her eyes, but he could see the smile working its way onto her lips. "Hey, not everyone loses all of the weight in their body regularly like you do," she pointed out.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed, "not to mention, hitting the ground doesn't hurt you the same way it would us." He was joking, but Danny couldn't help but notice the nervous glances he shot at the ground, only two feet beneath them.

Danny turned the invisible, floating up over the tops of the trees. Their arms tightened around him at almost the exact same time, and Danny chuckled a little. He wouldn't go too fast, since this was a scenic trip.

In the distance, Danny could see his parents and Jazz, as well as the family RV. They couldn't see him, and Jazz had thankfully made them leave their ghost hunting gear at home, so hopefully, he wouldn't get shot at for doing this.

"What do you guys think of the view?" Danny asked after a moment, his voice quiet.

It was still midday, and darker than when they arrived. Above them, the sun was all but covered by the moon, with a sliver visible that was still bright enough to blind someone who wasn't careful. They were resting in a small valley made by hills, and the gentle slopes of the ground around them was almost dizzying. The sky was getting darker now, and while Danny didn't get a response from his friends, he didn't mind. They were all waiting for the sun to disappear.

When the moon finally covered the sun completely, the result was… surprising. It wasn't as dark as night. The sky was a pale purple, or dirty grey in some places. Through the few clouds above them, Danny could see some of the brighter stars. Suddenly, he grinned.

"Going up, guys," he said as a warning. Tucker opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was got cut off as Danny shot up into the cloud layer. They came out the other side slightly damp, but still in one piece.

This time, Danny didn't notice Sam moving in time, and he grunted as she jabbed him in the side with the telescope. "Thanks for the warning," she sighed, reaching a hand back to try and force her wind-swept hair into place. Danny knew from experience that it was hopeless. Her hair wouldn't go down until she showered.

"Hey, an eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Danny stated defensively. "I figured that you guys would like the best seat in the house."

That made Sam quiet down. Despite her griping, she couldn't deny that the view was beautiful. It was darker above the clouds, and they could see more stars. Danny forgot that he was supposed to be looking at the blackened moon, and found himself watching the stars. He couldn't see a lot, and certainly not pick out constellations with all of the stars he couldn't see, but he didn't need to rattle off constellations like a textbook to know that the sky looked incredible.

The three of them were quiet, the only sound being their breathing as they looked around. It was the kind of moment that seemed to stretch for an eternity, and yet lasted no time at all. It felt like he had only just floated up into the sky, but already, the sun was becoming visible again.

Danny watched until he couldn't make out the stars anymore, and then he lowered them back to the ground slowly. He wished that Jazz could have joined them, but she needed to keep their parents busy, and Danny didn't want to awkwardly manhandle three people in his arms. He made a mental note to thank her later for being so great about it, even if it did cause her to hug him.

Once their feet touched the ground, Tucker stepped back from them, and took a deep breath. "Wow," was all he said. Danny and Sam nodded. "Wow," they both chimed in agreement.

Danny concentrated for a moment, and then let his ghost-self slip away. He looked like a normal teenager again, and turned his attention skyward. It was moments like _that_ that made him almost regret giving up being an astronaut to fight ghosts.

Almost.


	5. Day 5: 10 Years Later

**A/N: Takes place after Phantom Planet (duh)**

* * *

With a grim look of concentration on her face, Maddie finally snapped the thread, setting the needle down. "That should do it for the stitches," she sighed. Her voice was almost disappointed, and Danny felt a curl of childish nervousness in his chest. He knew that she wasn't mad, just worried. She always worried, even after all the fighting they had done together, and even though it was sometimes suffocating, it never failed to make Danny feel better. "You should have been more careful," his mother scolded, tucking everything back into her first aid kit. "You don't usually falter in fights like that. What's wrong?"

Unfortunately, Danny had to agree. He winced as he got to his fight, grimacing at the ectoplasm staining his black jumpsuit. Tastes might change over the years, but he stood by the opinion that black would always look good on him. He twisted his waist experimentally, and sucked in a pained hiss as it made his side ache. Maddie shot him an amused look, and he flushed a faint shade of green. Right. Injury. Duh.

"It's nothing, mom," he sighed. She shot him a knowing look, and he looked away. It was something. Getting injured by the _Box Ghost_ , badly enough to need _stitches_ , meant that he was ridiculously off his game. But to be fair, it had been a very sharp crate. "I've just been… distracted. Sam's been so distant lately." Danny couldn't understand why. Nothing had really changed in their relationship in the last few years, and she acted the same with everyone else. But recently, she had gotten almost… skittish whenever Danny was in the room.

Maddie hummed, tucking her ecto weapons away and grabbing the first aid kit. "Well, I can't say that I'm surprised," she said finally. Danny looked at her with indignation. _What?_ "You might have grown up, sweetie, but you're still just as clueless as ever." There wasn't any vindictiveness in her voice — actually, Maddie sounded very fond.

Danny sputtered as she started to walk away, and he hurried to keep up as they trudged towards the Ghost Assault Vehicle. Or, just the RV, when Danny felt like pretending to be normal. "What is that supposed to mean?" He pressed his mom, a hand clasped over his side where his jumpsuit had ripped and he had needed stitches. He would change to his human form once the wound began healing over. Points for a ghostly healing factor. "I'm not clueless!" He protested.

"Danny, hun," Maddie sighed, pilling all of her gear into the back of the RV. "you are incredibly clueless." Before Danny could argue, she continued. "I mean, you've been dating Sam for ten years now. She's probably starting to worry about your commitment. Have you too even discussed marriage? Kids? Moving out of that apartment and getting a proper house? You know that her parents would help if you would both stop being so stubborn and swallow your pride."

At the mention of Sam's parents, Danny crinkled his face up in distaste. After his secret had come out, they had more or less flipped out. They had done everything — tried to get a restraining order on him, attempted to make Sam study at a fancy private school overseas, and had even started holding anti-ghost protests.

Eventually, though, their parenting nature won out over stubbornness. As much as they had disliked the dangerous lifestyle Danny had, as well as his ghost half, they couldn't deny that he made Sam happy. And — even though it had taken months of arguing between Sam's parents to reach an agreement on — the desire to see their daughter happy eventually won out. They still didn't really _like_ Danny, per say, but they were certainly more accommodating than they had ever been in the past. Sam visited them weekly, even though she and Danny still refused to accept even a penny from their vast wealth to set themselves up.

"I… don't want to ever have that conversation," Danny said finally. He got into the RV on the passenger side. Age meant nothing to his parents — their RV, so they got to drive. "I still think that Sam's parents are waiting for her to open her eyes and leave me." It was supposed to be joking, but there was a touch of bitterness in Danny's voice as he said it. They were right. Sam deserved someone who could be around more often, who she didn't have to worry about never seeing again every time he went out. Danny sighed, sinking lower into his seat.

Maddie gave him a glance out of the corner of her eyes, and sighed. "Danny, maybe you should talk to her," she bit her lip. "Sam is going ghost hunting with you tomorrow. You should talk to her then, when you're both alone." She suggested. Danny didn't say anything. After he had gotten jumped by a few particularly nasty ghosts during his nightly reconnaissance a few years back, he had begrudgingly allowed his family to put a system in place.

Someone always had to go with him while fighting ghosts, and they would have a cell phone with them, to call for backup if necessary. They took it in shifts, so after Sam, Danny would spent the next night with Tucker. On weekends, he was forced to stay home and try to relax. That was the rule — unless a ghost attacked him outright, or the city was in extreme danger, he was to stay in his apartment and try to unwind. Not that Danny was very good at it.

"I'll… try talking to her," Danny said finally. He watched out the window as the city streets blurred by them. "Thanks for the advice, mom."

She reached over to ruffle his hair, and Danny only complained for a few seconds before letting her. If commitment was what Sam wanted, then Danny needed to do something that he should have done a long time ago.

* * *

" _Finally_ ," Sam groaned, twisting the cap over the Fenton Thermos with a tired smile. She leaned against the wall behind her, and slipped down, pulling her knees against her chest and resting her forehead against them as she caught her breath. "I never thought we would get that one… God, that should _not_ have taken up three hours."

Danny floated over to her, and his wispy tail reformed into a pair of legs as he stood next to her. "Want some ice to cool off?" He asked, his hand already glowing blue.

Sam shook her head, and Danny couldn't help the ugly doubt that pooled in his gut. _There she goes, being distant again..._ "It's alright." she leaned her head back, taking a deep breath. "I'm not hurt, I'm just tired." A wry smile found its way to her lips. "You would think that I would be used to this feeling by now, but it's still just as draining as it was ten years ago. I'll never understand how your parents do it…"

Silence settled between them. Danny wasn't sure what to say. He needed to talk to Sam about what was obviously bothering her, but he didn't know how to approach it. His mom hadn't given him _that much_ advice. "Uh, Sam, I—" He shivered suddenly, and tensed as a puff of frost came from his parted lips.

Almost immediately, Sam was on her feet, hand clutching the ecto gun that she kept strapped to her thigh. "Where is it? Can you tell if it's very powerful?" She started to run off, only to shoot a surprised look over her shoulder as Danny grabbed her by the wrist.

"Sam…" He sighed, and she looked at him with confusion as he let his transformation slip away. Standing in the aftermath of a fight with a ghost in his jeans, Danny felt more vulnerable than ever. "Forget the ghost. Valerie can always catch it. If it was dangerous, we would be hearing some destruction." True, he wasn't as close with Valerie as he had once been, but they could still always count on each other when it came to ghost hunting.

He wished that they could bond again, like when they were kids, but after Danny revealed his secret to the world, she almost seemed to actively pushing him away. Danny thought it was best to just give her space. After all the times she had tried to kill him, he certainly didn't blame her.

Something in his face must have shown how serious he was, because Sam didn't try to pull away. She hesitated, unsure, and then nodded. "Of course," she muttered, turning to face him fully. "Danny, you know that you can always talk to me." A small smile came to his face, and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

Danny felt his words catch in his throat. It felt like the ring he had was burning a hole in his pocket. What was he thinking? Sam didn't need a commitment — she needed a good boyfriend. Ten years felt like it had gone by like nothing, and Danny found himself looking at Sam in a completely different light.

Somehow, through all of the time they had spent together, he had failed to see how she had grown up.

Oh, sure, she had obviously aged in the past ten years. But he had never noticed all the small ways she had matured. She was still passionate, but not quite so easily angered. Protective of Danny, as ever, but also resigned to the fact that she couldn't protect him. Not really. She had let her hair grow out, and kept it died black, but it seemed more… adult, now. It was neatly combed and tied back, almost as though she had started taking an interest in her appearance for reasons beyond simply infuriating her parents.

When had she become an adult?

Suddenly, Sam's eyes narrowed. "Danny, you had better not be doing what I think you're doing," she warned.

That yanked Danny from his thoughts, and he raised an eyebrow. "What? I'm not doing anything, Sam." Not yet, anyway. He was considering "accidentally" releasing the ghost they had just caught, simply to have an excuse to get out of this conversation.

"Yes, you are," she said accusingly. "I know that pouty, far-away look, Danny. You're trying to psych yourself out of being honest and just _talking_ to me. I don't bite! Seriously, sometimes, you're just so overdramatic! Is it really so difficult to just—" Whatever Sam had been about to say, it was cut off when Danny pressed their lips together.

It was a brief kiss, firm but chaste, and when Danny pulled back, Sam was blushing. He couldn't help but smile. She could pretend to be mad at him all she wanted, but all it took was some affection, and she crumbled like a house of cards. "W-what was that for?" She mumbled, reaching up to touch her lips.

Danny's smile widened. "I… really appreciate you, Sam. I'm glad you're in my life." He said quietly.

For a moment, Danny almost thought that he had said something wrong. Sam looked at him wordlessly for a long moment, as though searching for a something. After a moment, she sighed. "Danny, I need to tell you something." Her eyes closed. "Let's just… let's say what we're thinking at the same time, okay?" She asked.

Dumbly, Danny nodded. "Yeah, alright," he said slowly. Sam didn't look mad, but Danny couldn't ignore the trickle of doubt in the back of his mind. Was she doing to break up with him?

There wasn't much point in asking, since she was going to be telling him in a moment. Taking a deep breath, she nodded shortly. "Alright, okay… on the count of three. One. Two…" She hesitated.

"I want to get married!" Danny blurted out finally.

"I'm pregnant!" Sam shouted at the same time.

Immediately, both of their faces paled. It seemed like the perfect moment to make some sort of ghost-related pun ( _"you look like you've seen a ghost, ha"_ ), but the words didn't come. Danny didn't say anything, struggling to process what he had just been told. She had only said two words, but that was all he needed.

" _What_?" They both blurted out at the same time.

Sam opened her mouth, but Danny shook his head. "No, _no way_ are you spinning this onto me, Sam. You're _pregnant_? _How_? I— I mean, I know _how_ , but—" He struggled for a moment, and then managed to pull his thoughts together. Danny sighed. "How long have you known?"

He could see that Sam didn't want to talk about this, but Danny wasn't having any of it. Something like this was too important. "...for about a month now," she admitted quietly. "I was— I was going to tell you, Danny, I just didn't know how to approach it, and I thought—" She cut herself off.

"You thought what?" Danny pressed. He knew that he wasn't giving Sam a lot of confidence in his reaction, but he was still struggling to decide what his reaction even _was_. This almost didn't even feel real.

Sam struggled for a moment, but then sighed, and looked away. "I thought that you… would be upset. That you— that you might leave me. Leave _us_." She pressed a hand over her stomach, and Danny winced.

"I wouldn't— Sam, I would _never_ leave you," he said quietly. "Or our child." He had added it mostly as an afterthought, but it got Sam to smile, nonetheless. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tight.

They stood like that for a long moment, with her head against his chest and one of his hands going to stroke through her hair. Without warning, Danny suddenly jumped back. "Oh my _God_!" Sam shielded her eyes as he suddenly transformed. After the bright light died away, he didn't hesitate to take her hand in his. "I cannot _believe_ you've been fighting ghosts while _knowing_ that you're pregnant!"

Before Sam could protest, or try to explain, Danny had already swept her into his arms. His legs disappeared, replaced by a tail as he shot into the air. "You're going back to the apartment," he told her, and the tone he used told Sam that there was no point in arguing. "I'll— I'll stay there, too, if I have to. Mom and dad can handle most of the ghosts." He muttered to himself, so quiet that Sam couldn't hear.

She sighed, planting a kiss on Danny's cheek. That seemed to calm him down a little bit. "So… that means you're not upset?"

He snorted. "Oh, I'm definitely upset," Danny said, but when he saw the look on Sam's face, is expression softened. "I just… I wish you have told me sooner. I can't believe you've been fighting… what if something happened to the baby? I worry enough about just _you_ as it is."

Sam smiled, holding onto Danny a little bit tighter as they approached their apartment building. It wasn't any place overly fancy, but it had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living area, a kitchen, and a separate place to eat. Danny had liked the past few years, living there with Sam, but he realized with a start that he was going to need a house. _Wow_ , he thought. _Mom was right_.

He phased through the roof, lowering them two floors to where their room was. Once they were safely on the ground, he resumed solid form, setting Sam down carefully.

There was a moment where neither of them said anything. The silence between them was heavy with things they had left unsaid. After a moment, Danny sighed, and his transformation once again slipped away.

"Here." He took Sam's hand, pulling the ring out of his pocket and pressing it into her palm. "I know that this isn't very romantic. I had this whole scenario going through my head where I would take you somewhere nice after we got done ghost fighting. There was going to be this whole speech that I haven't worked out yet, but it would have made you cry—" Sam scoffed playfully, "—and then I was going to get down on one knee and embarrass you in front of the entire restaurant. Or maybe I could have our server put it at the bottom of your glass like they do in movies for some reason, because choking hazards are romantic, apparently. And I know that I can't be around all the time. I know that I'm reckless and stupid, and I'm probably going to end up getting myself killed all the way at some point, but I would _never_ let you or— or our _child_ be in any danger of— of—" He took a deep breath, and continued. "My point is, I love you, Sam. I know that I don't deserve you, but—"

His next words came out muffled, and then stopped completely. He smiled against Sam's lips, putting his arms around her waist and kissing her back just as sweetly.

"You're an idiot," Sam muttered when they finally broke the kiss. Despite her words, there was fondness in her voice. "I can't believe it took you this long to ask. My answer is _yes_ , okay? Yes, I'll marry you, you stubborn, moronic, suicidal—"

Again, she was cut off with a kiss. Danny didn't think that she minded, though. Neither of them could stop smiling. And as long as Sam kept saying _yes_ , Danny didn't think that he ever would.


	6. Day 6: World-Building

"It's revolutionary." Maddie gazed wide-eyed at the glowing green vial in her gloved hands. "I can't believe it. Years of work… We finally synthesized a pure extract." She turned around to face Danny, her expression severe. "Do you know what this is?" She asked.

Danny tried to remember what his parents had said about their latest project, but unlike with their typical inventions, the vial she was holding wasn't familiar in the least. Of course it wasn't. His mom and dad had been locked in the basement for weeks straight now, only coming up to eat, occasionally shower, and have distracted small talk with their kids, before disappearing into the basement again. He hesitated, and then shook his head in response to his mom's question. "No, I don't." He admitted.

Rather than seeming upset or disappointed, Maddie only nodded. " _This_ ," she set the vial down on the desk behind her, "is a highly concentrated and _very_ toxic ectoplasmic extract. I don't want to see you or your friends hanging out around this, Danny. The effects it has on humans could be fatal."

He knew enough about his mom's work to nod, though secretly, he was worried. Ectoplasmic extract? It didn't take a PhD to know what that meant. "Where, um— where did you get all of it?" He asked, maybe a little too casually.

Thankfully, if Maddie noticed how nervous he was, she didn't comment on it. "Not from ghosts, if that's what you're thinking, sweetie," she replied. "When ghosts are… well, "killed" for lack of a better term, in our world, their ectoplasm returns to the Ghost Zone, where they reform. Certainly, we could _try_ to harvest a "dead" ghost, but it wouldn't provide a lot. Definitely not enough to purify this way." She sounded proud, but Danny only felt sick. The way his mom so dismissively talked about lives lost, and "harvesting" made him feel queasy. "To answer your question, we got the ectoplasm from the atmosphere of the Ghost Zone itself." She jerked a thumb in the direction of the huge portal, against the far wall. "It's fascinating, Danny. I know you don't care much about mine and your father's ghost research, but it's a scientific marvel." Her speaking got faster as she got excited. Danny managed to smile. When his parents weren't talking about vaporizing and dissecting ghosts, their studies could be legitimately interesting. "So far, we've only sent probes in to collect material and come back, but it's incredible. The atmosphere has a higher oxygen percentage than our own planet, and the rest is almost completely made of ectoplasm. How it forms a functional, liveable dimension is _beyond_ me, but your father and I are already planning a trip inside to take a look for ourselves. We've been getting our ectoplasm from the dimension itself. It took several gallons, but we managed to get this pure sample." Maddie beamed.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You used gallons and only got that tiny vial? That doesn't seem very… efficient." Despite Maddie's reassurance that they weren't "harvesting" ghosts to make their energy source, Danny couldn't shake the feeling that there was something _wrong_ with it all. He just couldn't place his finger on _what_ , exactly.

"Actually," Maddie looked happy that Danny was finally taking an interest in her work, "it's a very worthwhile payoff. Even this little bit of pure ectoplasm can power everything in our city for a _week_. It's incredibly powerful matter, Danny, and completely self-renewable!" She grinned. "We're going to test it on our house, to see if there's any side effects or unpleasant waste left over. Speaking of which, I need to talk to your father about his progress with modifying the Ecto-Converter. I'll be right back, sweetie." Maddie ruffled Danny's hair as she walked past him, making her way up the stairs.

As soon as the basement door closed behind her, Danny sighed, and relaxed. He walked over to the little stand where she had placed the vial of ectoplasm, and frowned. The idea of using this energy source still bothered him, but Danny supposed that there wasn't anything _unethical_ about it. It was far better than using real ghosts for energy, as the Ecto-Converter had originally done.

He picked the vial up, feeling it. Even though his temperature was unnaturally low for a human, thanks to his ice abilities, the vial still felt like ice in Danny's hands. Was this what ectoplasm was like when there wasn't a core to hold it together? And this small amount was supposed to be able to power a city for a week. It could revolutionize the entire power industry, and the world. They wouldn't need to burn fossil fuels anymore, or block up rivers with dams, or invest millions into field after field of solar panels.

So why did thinking about it make Danny want to smash the bottle?

He didn't get to ponder the question for too long. Danny shuddered, and a tendril of frost coming from between his lips told him what he already knew. He set the vial back down, getting into a fighting stance as he let his transformation wash over him. His mom would be back soon, so he was going to have to make this quick.

Now sporting a black jumpsuit, shocking white hair, and electric green eyes, Danny automatically floated off the ground. It was harder to stay grounded when he was a ghost than it was to float, so he let it happen most of the time. It made fighting easier, at any rate.

The ghost portal slid open with a quiet hiss, and Danny tensed. Out of the swirling doorway, he wasn't surprised to see Skulker step out. He was, however, caught off guard when he didn't seem to pay Danny any attention at all.

He hesitated. "What are you—" Danny grunted in pain as he was suddenly flung back against the wall, and pulled himself out of the cracked plaster to see Ember step out of the portal, too. Her hand was still poised above her guitar to hit another cord, but instead, she let her feet touch the ground.

"Save it, dipstick," Ember said in her echoing voice, a look of distaste on her face. "For once, we aren't here to make your life miserable. Not that it wouldn't be fun."

Danny still felt the urge to attack, but since Ember and Skulker were being _mostly_ civil, he sighed, and got into a relaxed stance. He figured that it would be hypocritical of him to attack ghosts who weren't antagonizing him, as much as it bothered him when his parents did it.

"Ghost child," Skulker got his attention, and pointed to the vial of pure ectoplasm on the counter, "is that what your parents have been taking from our dimension?"

Floating a foot off the ground, Danny moved over to them and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Wait, how do you guys know about that?"

Ember scoffed. She plucked a few cords on her guitar, but to Danny's relief, all that came out was a few music notes. " _Please_. The Ghost Zone might be huge, but word travels fast in a place that boring. Why do you think we're so eager to come here? Getting beaten by you and shoved in that stupid Thermos is _still_ better than hanging around in there." She smirked. "Don't worry this time, babypop. We're just here for _that_ , and then we're gone."

Before Skulker could reach for the vial, Danny grabbed it. Now that he was a ghost, it almost felt warm in his hand. The realization was unnerving, to say the least. "What do you want this for?" Danny asked. "It's just my parents' stupid energy source."

Skulker growled, a sound that was definitely _not_ human. Danny only stared back, determined to keep a straight face. "That "energy source" is _us_ ," he said impatiently, as if that was supposed to explain everything.

Rolling her eyes, Ember placed a hand on Skulker's arm. His glare lessened some, and Danny grimaced in disgust. "Look," she sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, "haven't you ever _wondered_ where all the ectoplasm in there came from?" She asked. Danny blinked. His lack of knowledge clearly irritated them both, but Ember only huffed, before continuing. "Ghosts are created by extreme emotion felt during death. That's what creates our cores, but the ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone is what stabilizes us. It's also what happens when we die."

They were all quiet for a moment, and then Danny frowned. "Aren't you already dead?"

"Yes," Ember narrowed her eyes, "dead, but not _satisfied_. Ghosts only stay around as long as they keep feeling intense emotion. Once a ghost is satisfied, and at peace, they leave." Her patience was starting to wear thin, but Danny was interested. As the son of two scientists, he couldn't help but have an interest in the unknown, especially when it came to a subject as vague as ghosts.

"Where do they go?" Danny asked a little too eagerly — Skulker gave him a warning look.

Ember shrugged. "If I knew, I wouldn't be here talking to _you,_ kid." She pointed at the vial in his hands. "All I know is, _that's_ what gets left behind. The core… moves on, and the ectoplasm that makes up the Ghost Zone comes from their bodies."

That was less exciting. Danny didn't say anything for a moment, and then he looked down at his parents' energy source. "So, this is..?"

"Ghosts who have "passed on"," Ember finished for him, nodding. "As much as we like to cause trouble, we have enough "humanity" left to know using _that_ as an energy source is incredibly messed up." She looked like she meant it, too. Danny had never been around these two for so long without one of them attacking him.

"Which is why we'll be taking it." Skulker held out his hand, and Danny could see that his patience was all but gone. "Hand it over. Now, whelp!"

Still, Danny hesitated.

His parents had spent who knows how long on this. It was going to revolutionize the world. He thought of all the amazing things they said it was going to do, and he felt torn. To ghosts, this was almost like if a human used another person's corpse as a tool. It was disrespectful and completely unethical. Inhumane.

Skulker turned his hand around, and his blaster was aimed directly at Danny's chest. "I gave you a chance, ghost child, but—"

"Just take it," Danny interrupted him, tossing the vial to Ember. She caught it easily, and looked surprised for only a second before the usual smirk came back to her face. "Now, get out of here."

The two ghosts shared a look, and then Skulker lowered his weapon. "Of course," Ember replied icily. "But first…" Before Danny could react, Skulker's hand shot out. He grabbed Danny by the front of his jumpsuit, and raised his other hand, making it into a fist.

"What are you doing?" Danny glared at them, his eyes flashing a brighter green than normal.

"Relax," Skulker said, though the weapons he was pointing at Danny had the opposite of his desired effect. "We're just making it look realistic."

Danny closed his eyes, just in time for him to receive a fist in the gut. It sent him flying across the room, and distantly, Danny thought of Dash. A fist in the gut was practically familiar, compared to the ecto energy he usually had shot at him.

He crashed into a stack of boxes, filled with scraps and usable parts for more inventions. Danny groaned weakly, holding his head. That was definitely going to bruise, and leave a nasty bump, ghost healing or not. He let his transformation slip away, and opened his eyes to see Ember laugh.

"Ciao, baby!" She waved to him, and true to her word, turned around and walked through the portal. Skulker hesitated, but Ember's hand shot back out, and she grabbed him by the arm, yanking him back into the Ghost Zone.

Shakily, Danny got to his feet. A few bruises, but the only thing broken appeared to be the parts he had crashed into. "Ouch…" he brushed the extra wires out of his hair, grimacing as moving sent a sharp pain through his shoulder. Yeah, that was going to require a few painkillers.

"Danny? Are you okay?" His mom's worried voice came from the top of the stairs, and a moment later, she had rushed down into the basement. Maddie had her gun raised, scanning the room, but as soon as she saw Danny, it wasn't hard to piece together what happened.

She lowered her weapon and ran over to him. "Oh, Danny, sweetie…" He let her help him into a chair, and in true mom fashion, Maddie immediately began scanning Danny over for injuries.

"Mom, I'm _fine_ ," he sighed, batting her hands away. "I'm just… these ghosts came out of the portal and got your energy source. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them." He looked away guiltily.

Maddie frowned, but then she sighed, wrapping Danny in a hug. "Oh, sweetheart, I don't care about that. I'm just glad that you're okay." She brushed his hair out of his face, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Danny smiled, and for once, didn't complain about getting hugged. "Yeah, mom," he replied. "Thanks."

Looking over her shoulder at the swirling ghost portal, though, he frowned. That sample was gone, but Danny knew that this problem was far from solved. It was only the beginning.


	7. Day 7: Core

Danny clipped the cap of the Fenton Thermos into place, and relaxed. It was only the Box Ghost ( _again_ ), but he always felt relief when the ghost was dealt with. He felt proud of himself for handling the situation without help. It was the middle of the day, and it hadn't felt right to ask Sam and Tucker to excuse themselves from class just for his sake.

Handling ghosts alone had been the point of fighting them in the first place, anyway. He wanted to keep the town safe and protect people. That was what he was doing. Even if he caught ten ghosts that were only as dangerous as the Box Ghost, it was better that he wasted a few minutes doing this than risk someone less experience doing it and getting hurt in the process.

He went to loop the Thermos around his shoulder and take off, but froze. Something metal and solid was jammed between his shoulder blades, and he winced as the person behind him dug the weapon in harder. "Don't move, ghost boy." Danny shuddered as he recognized the voice. _Of all the days to not pay attention…_

He held still, not even daring to breathe. He could go without oxygen for a few minutes, so he wasn't as worried about that as much as he was worried about his mother shooting him. "I…" his mouth went dry as she pressed the muzzle of the weapon in deeper, "I— I'm not going to move," he mumbled. "Can you lower your weapon?"

She didn't say anything. The gun didn't lower, but she didn't press it in any harder, either, so Danny took that as a blessing. "Hand over the Thermos," she said in a clipped voice. "I want back what you stole from our lab."

Danny didn't hesitate to pass it back. He had to move slowly so that she didn't shoot, but she snatched it without drilling a gaping hole in his chest, which was nice. He could just get the Thermos back the next time he was in the lab. It wasn't worth getting shot over. "There's a… well, there's a ghost in there," he warned.

Maddie didn't let up at all. He heard her moving as she clipped the Thermos to her utility belt, and then silence fell between them. Danny knew that if he could go intangible for long enough to get underground, he would be safe. But in such close proximity, he didn't want to test his mom's excellent aim and fast reaction time. After a moment, he shifted. Immediately, her finger pressed over the trigger, and Danny froze again as the safety clicked off. "Don't get impatient, ghost," Maddie muttered. "We're just going to wait until my husband arrives with the containment tank, and then we'll find out what makes you so different." There was a cold undercut to her words that made Danny shiver.

"I— I don't—" He squeezed his eyes shut. "Look, is this really necessary? If you go ahead and ask a question now, I can answer it for you. There's no reason to use big words like "containment" and lug around that huge gun. Seriously, just go ahead. Shoot."

He could almost _feel_ when his mom smiled. "Sure," she replied. "Why not?" And then she squeezed the trigger.

Actually, it didn't hurt. Danny was surprised by that. It felt kind of like he had just been stapled, and compared to the ectoblast he was expecting, it was a blessing. He relaxed for a moment, more confused than scared. "What—?"

That was when the pain kicked in.

It wasn't anything physical. Danny had _no idea_ what was happening, and that was the worst part. All of a sudden, he couldn't move. He couldn't even blink. It felt like his chest was being torn apart, cut up, as though someone had shoved a buzz saw in between his lungs. His vision blurred, and when Maddie kicked his calf, he crumbled to the ground like he was made of paper. She rolled him onto his back and flicked a switch on a clunky box attached to her hip. Immediately, the pain stopped.

He sucked in a hard breath purely out of habit, and winced as the movement aggravated his chest. He could feel whatever she shot him with digging into his back, and it seemed ridiculous that the tiny, metal disc could cause him so much pain. The actual gun was relatively small. Definitely smaller than the typical things that his parents shot at him with. Its only purpose was probably just to shook out those tiny discs.

"Fascinating things, ghost cores," Maddie said almost conversationally. "They operate on their own frequency. It took ages to find a complementary frequency on my own, but after some trial and error, I stumbled across one that disrupts the frequency of a core. That device I shot into your back sends the vibrations straight through your ectoplasmic body, and into your core. In weaker ghosts, it tears the ghosts apart and leaves a puddle of formless ectoplasm. You seem strong enough to handle it, though." She reached down, and Danny winced, but she only brushed the skin above his lip before pulling back. To his surprise, ectoplasm splattered her usually immaculate black glove. Had that come out of him? Was his nose bleeding?"

Dazed, Danny reached up to touch his face. Sure enough, his hand came away smeared with ectoplasm. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he didn't even have the energy to do that much. If that device hadn't wiped out all of his power, he would have taken the opportunity to faze through the ground and run. Sure, his parents had always shot at him, but he had never been close enough to see the complete lack of concern. It hurt to see his parents looking at him like that, even though Danny knew that they weren't really looking at _him_. Not really.

"Shouldn't've used the word "shoot." Bad choice of words. That's on me…" His words came out heavy and slurred. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, propping himself up on his elbow. Surprisingly, Maddie let him. After how he reacted to that, she didn't seem concerned with the possibility that he might escape. And to be honest, Danny wasn't, either.

"You can still make jokes, I see." Maddie's expression tightened. "How long have you been dead, Phantom? You still act like you breathe, and react appropriately when you're hurt, even though ghosts can't feel pain. You look… unusually humanoid. Is it just a disguise? You're such a young ghost, but your power levels have almost tripled in this year alone."

Danny laughed faintly. "'Dead,' huh?" He repeated. "I try not to think about it like that. You're really blunt." He hummed, and let his eyes close. He knew that Maddie was ready to use the ecto-disruptor, or whatever she called it, on him at any moment, but he couldn't help but be relaxed around her. At the end of the day, this was still his mother. And ghost or not, she wouldn't hurt him without reason. "I think it's been… about a year now." He replied, opening his eyes again to look up at her. "And no, it's not a disguise. I just look like this. You can credit my parents with that one — the jumpsuit, too, Like it? Black is very slimming." Danny smiled.

For some reason, the mention of his parents seemed to make Maddie pause. "Your parents?" She muttered. "Do you… remember them? Are they still alive?"

If he wasn't still feeling the pain from her latest invention, Danny might have laughed. "Yeah, I remember them," he said with a laugh. "My mom, dad, sister… all still alive." His parents attacked him regularly, and his sister always did her best to help him avoid it. Out of context, it sounded pretty bad, but to Danny, it was only another ironic twist in his already messed up life.

Maddie knelt down, and hesitated, before brushing some of the white hair out of Danny's eyes. "You remind me of my own son…" She admitted. Danny couldn't help but be surprised by that. His mom was going to attack him, and then mention how he reminded her of her child? What an odd moment to be vulnerable. He had been trying to build up some sort of bond with his parents for as long as he had been running around as Phantom. Why did she have to choose this moment to return the favor? "Do you… still see your family?"

Danny nodded, leaning into her touch. "Yeah," he said quietly. He saw them quite regularly. "Actually, you remind me a lot of my mom." He let that statement hang in the air, venturing to be just a little more straightforward that he was normally. It was possible that he would never tell his parents his secret, but if they could just accept the impossible and figure it out themselves…

"Your mom?" Maddie blinked in surprise. She looked at the gun still held in one hand, and a brief expression of guilt flashed across her face. Danny felt kind of bad about it. If his parents knew who he really was, that guilt would be more than just a flash. They would probably never forgive themselves.

"Mhm," was all Danny said. "Mom…" He closed his eyes again, and that seemed to be the end of the conversation.

With a grimace, she wiped the ectoplasm on her hand off onto her thigh. For some reason, it didn't sit right with her anymore. She knew that ghosts couldn't feel pain, but then, why did Phantom fake it so well? Why did he seem genuinely _happy_ to talk about his family?

Suddenly, the door to the box warehouse was slammed open. Maddie jumped, hand immediately going to her weapon, only to relax. Jack came in dragging a heavy ghost containment chamber. They had specially made it for Phantom, or at least, for a ghost as powerful as he was. "I got it, Mads!" Jack stated proudly. Then, he looked around and frowned. "Where's that ghost punk?"

She turned back to the spot where he had just been. There was a smear of ectoplasm on the ground, left from when he had landed, but he was gone. Her hand went to the switch on her hip. For a moment, Maddie considered turning it on. It would force him to stop, long enough for them to track him down again. But then she sighed and got to her feet.

"He got away," she said simply. Maddie unclipped the switch at her hip, and dropped it to the ground, crushing it under her foot.

Jack gawked. He had never seen his wife destroy their own inventions like that before. "What are you doing?" He asked, shocked as his wife walked past him and out of the building. "It worked fine before!"

Maddie hesitated mid-step, and swallowed thickly. "He was too powerful for it," she lied smoothly. "Let's get back to the RV, Jack. We need to think of a different way to catch Phantom." Preferably, a way that didn't… reduce him to that human-like weakness. It was hard to hate Phantom when he was so young, so much like Danny, so much… like a real person. She kept imagining herself in that position — if someone was hunting and hurting _her_ son.

Why did Phantom have to appear so real?


	8. Day 8: Clones

**A/N: I'm just going to warn you now — this is bad. I do not like this one, and I would rewrite it if I had a better idea on what to do, but to be quite frank, I don't have the time. For once in my life, I am busy. So we'll agree that if none of you ever mention this, I will make the other days more enjoyable. Deal? Deal.**

* * *

"You know, you should really let mom do this," Jazz sighed as she dabbed at a cut on Danny's forearm with a damp rag.

He was in his human form after another tough night. He was getting better at avoiding injury, though. The scrapes and bruises he had gotten were hardly worth staying in his ghost form for. A human body healed them just fine without ghost powers.

Danny shook his head. "What, and worry her even more? You saw how she looked when I came home with an injury last week." True, mom was good at patching up his human injuries, but he had seen the look on her face when he'd begrudgingly sat down to let her apply stitches to a nasty gash in his thigh. She had been paler than most ghosts. He had refused to answer her questions about how it had happened, on the condition that if he came home with another bad injury, he would have to tell her. Danny was pretty sure that she thought he was being bullied. Which was correct, but not at all the reason behind his injuries. "Besides, it's good practice for you. It's not like I can reach all of these by myself." He sighed.

He hated worrying people by showing up with injuries, but oddly enough, Jazz was the calmest about it. She never freaked out like Sam or Tucker, or fretted over his safety like mom. There was probably something in one of her child psychology books about this, but for once, Danny couldn't be mad. It was kind of nice, to just sit there quietly and get taken care of. Not that he would ever admit it.

There wasn't anything serious enough to require long-term treatment, so once she had gotten the bleeding to stop, and cleaned all of the cuts twice, Jazz climbed up off of the floor. She tossed the bloody towel into the laundry hamper, and everything else went into the trash.

Danny twisted around to look at her. "Is that it?" He felt tired. It would be nice to get some sleep.

Jazz nodded, grimacing sympathetically. "Yeah, that's it. You should get to bed, Danny. No sense in staying up if nothing's happening." She offered Danny her hand, pulling him up after he took the offer. They say on the edge of his bed, and Danny laid down with a grimaced.

His shirt was on the floor, same with his jeans. Jazz had gotten used to seeing Danny in just his boxers since she'd offered to help with first aid, but it still bothered her to see him the way he was. Maybe she was imagining things, but without clothes to hide old scars, Danny looked so… fragile. He had made the decision to start fighting ghosts, and the injuries no one's fault but his own recklessness. Still, it made Jazz ache faintly at the knowledge of how much he gave up to protect people.

Suddenly, Danny shivered. He sat bolt upright in bed, looking around with wild eyes. "Where is—?"

Something small and fast shot through the open window. Jazz winced as it slammed into Danny's dresser, scattering the model rockets he had placed on top, and the sound of splintering wood as clothes were sent flying. There was no way that their parents hadn't heard that.

Danny jumped off the bed, not bothering to yank on a shirt as he crouched next to the tiny ghost laying on the remains of his dresser. "Danielle!" Jazz wasn't sure who that was, but Danny looked pained as he helped her sit up. "Are you okay? What—?"

The ghost girl shook her head, holding up a hand to make Danny quiet down. "It's— it's bad." She swallowed thickly. "I was coming into town just to check up on you and visit, but…" Danielle winced, holding her head in her hands. "Danny, you need to go. It's bad, it's—"

Their ghost sense went off at the same time, and all three of them turned to the still-open window.

Frost raced over the glass, and two feet, clad in white boots, landed on the window sill without a sound. Downstairs, it was easy to hear their parents fumbling with some sort of huge ghost weapon, but no one dared to look away from the _familiar_ stranger in their midst.

"Hello." He was the splitting image of Danny Phantom. Everything was perfect, down to the hairstyle, the clothing, and the pitch of his voice. Only, instead of Danny's usual good-nature, all that was reflected in his electric eyes was cold disinterest. He didn't seem to recognize Danny, which was a momentary relief. "I'm here for the inferior copy," he said smoothly, stepping into the room. He pointed at Danielle. "I'll be taking her now."

Danny got to his feet and, even though he was visibly injured and only in boxers, stepped between the intruder and Danielle. "No," he snapped, narrowing his eyes. "You're not going to touch her." His tone left little room for argument.

Shakily, Danielle got to her feet. She put a hand on Danny's arm, and he grimaced as her touch left a smear of ectoplasm on his arm. "It's Vlad," she said, as if that explained everything. "He… We were so stupid. Destroying one of his labs wasn't going to stop his research. And he… it looks like he finally succeeded." She sounded out of breath, and not just from the fight she had obviously been through. She looked torn up, ectoplasm dripping from open wounds, and it looked like a bit of her hair was even still smoking.

Danny started to say something, but was cut off. "I see," Phantom said slowly, looking between the two. "You are the original." It wasn't a question. Jazz hated the way he spoke. It didn't sound like Danny at all, and it made her shudder to hear such coldness in her brother's voice. " _She_ is an embarrassment," Phantom continued, glaring at Danielle. "She must be captured and destroyed for research. Father demands it."

That made Danny shudder. "God, let's hope I never have to hear myself call Vlad " _father_ " again." He grimaced. A ring of light appeared around his waist, but before he could transform, Danny was slammed into the wall as an ectoplasmic blast hit him in the gut. Blood seeped down the back of his head as he went limp in a heap on the floor, unconscious. There was a large burn on his stomach, but Jazz was almost dizzily relieved to see that it wasn't severe.

Phantom stalked over to them and grabbed Danielle by the forearm. He seemed unbothered by the ectoplasm melting in his hand, and Danielle was now too weak to fight back. He bent over and grabbed Danny by the shirt collar, and that was what finally spurred Jazz into action.

"Where are you taking them?" She didn't have any weapons on her, but she could at least distract Phantom until her parents managed to get upstairs.

With both hands full, Phantom couldn't very easily attack her. He could still leave, but something about Jazz made him hesitate. "Father requires them," he said finally. "I am incomplete. I don't have a "human half" to stabilize me."

Jazz nodded. Oddly enough, it made sense. Danny's ghost half was very different from typical ghosts, and she considered it a marvel that this… clone was even still walking around without a human half to balance everything out.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked quietly.

Phantom arched an eyebrow. He looked confused and oddly entertained. It was obvious that no one had ever treated him like this before. "No," he admitted after a long pause.

Jazz swallowed thickly. "I'm your sister. I'm Jazz. I just got done cleaning Danny's wounds from another night of ghost fighting." She smiled faintly. "He's an idiot, you know. He always pushes himself too far. I would… I would really appreciate it if you would drop him. I need to bandage that head wound and get some ice on his stomach before it becomes anything serious."

Danielle was looking at her oddly, but thankfully, she didn't seem upset. Still, Jazz couldn't help the guilty clench in her gut as she looked at the girl. It reminded her of when Danny was little. He had been so cute, so small… how was it that now, he was a hero? A year ago, he had barely been able to open a pickle jar on his own.

Even now, it pained her to look at Phantom. He was so much like Danny, it was as though she was gazing at a photograph. He was nothing at all like Danny, she knew, but he was looking at her like she was something familiar, something that he had missed. She would hate to see that look in the real Danny's eyes — as if he didn't know her.

Staring for a moment, Phantom seemed caught off guard. "Sister…" he muttered the word to himself, rolling it around in his head. Jazz held her breath, watching him hopefully. "I… well, Father never asked me to grab my original. He only wants the girl." Phantom walked over to Jazz, and she shivered at the ice cold aura that washed over her. "And I hate doing extra work. Take him." For a moment, Jazz almost thought that he was smiling, but then he dropped Danny, and she became much more concerned with her brother.

She dropped to her knees, pulling Danny up against her chest. Jazz grimaced at all of the blood, but thankfully, it looked like the wound was closing on its own. She grabbed one of the shirts that had been scattered thanks to Danielle's entrance and pressed the wadded material to the back of Danny's head.

Her head snapped up as Phantom walked to the window, Danielle seeming almost willing to go with him now. "W-Wait—!" Jazz reached for him. Phantom whirled, and she winced as an ectoblast spammed into the ground barely a foot from her knee.

"This means nothing," he said in a warning tone. "Don't expect this in the future. Even if you— if you _are_ my sister, I have myself and my own family to look out for. I'm only leaving _him_ ," he pointed to Danny, "because I don't want to carry him. That's all there is to it."

Jazz smiled. "You're just as stubborn as Danny is," she sighed, looking away. "...thank you."

The next moment, he was gone. Jazz was sure that she would start freaking out about what just happened in a minute, but for the time being, she felt oddly calm as she picked Danny up and got him into bed. Mostly, she was just glad that her baby brother was alright.


	9. Day 9: Power Surge

Amity Park had its fair share of rain, but the storms almost never got bad enough to warrant concern.

The storm Danny was dealing with at the moment was one of the exceptions. He had borrowed a pair of goggles from his parent's lab before jumping out of the house to follow his ghost sense, but they did little to help him see through the storm.

Rain pelted down like plastic bullets, and he had been soaked almost as soon as he stepped out of the house. Going intangible helped for a while, but keeping it up for hours was just _asking_ to run out of energy. The air was thick and heavy with the storm, and he could barely see, let alone fly straight. Whatever ghost it was, Danny was certain that they weren't causing the storm. As bad as the weather was, it didn't feel unearthly or like anything other than bad luck.

He clenched his jaw, pulling a burst of speed from sheer force of will, and clutched the Fenton Thermos against his chest so tightly that his knuckles were shaking. He had yet to even get a good look at the ghost who had woken him up at this ungodly hour for a chase in the rain, but its laughter was haunting. Danny couldn't even begin to guess at a gender, and after hours of blinding and soaking himself in the rain just for this, he was starting to think that nothing about this ghost matter except location. The preferable location being, of course, inside of his Thermos, or in the Ghost Zone.

It just kept _laughing_. Danny couldn't figure out what was so goddamn funny. He was tired and miserable, and _why_ wouldn't the storm just break? He flicked the cap off of the Thermos as the laughter got louder. It grated on every frayed nerve he had, and he found himself having to bite back an annoyed growl as he finally activated the Thermos.

Despite the storm, Danny seemed to have luck on his side. The laughter finally (mercifully) stopped, and Danny relaxed as he watched the ghost get sucked up in the beam of light. He clicked the cap into place as soon as the ghost was caught, and put the strap of the Thermos around his body so that it hung on his back. He let out a shaky breath. Now that the ghost was gone, Danny felt silly for getting so easily angered. Did he really have such little control of himself?

He winced as lightning crackled, followed immediately by a crash of deafening thunder. It brought him back to awareness, and he lowered himself closer to the ground. Where was he? Danny frowned. It looked close to the outskirts of town, and he couldn't say that any of it was familiar. He needed to get back home, just in case the storm woke up his parents and they went to check on him. If they checked his room and Danny Fenton wasn't safe and fast asleep, he wouldn't be allowed out of the house for a month.

He was just thinking about flying back into town, but froze. There was a split second where Danny _felt_ what was about to happen. The storm was right on top of him, so lightning wasn't out of place. Still, the painfully familiar tingle of electricity in the air was enough to freeze him in place. It only lasted a second. The air around him suddenly felt like it was burning, every hair on his body was standing on end, and Danny couldn't move.

The lightning practically cut through him. It was an abrupt, searing pain, that not even the Accident almost a year ago could compare to. Danny couldn't feel _anything_ other than every cell in his body screaming. It was _too much_. He was crying, he registered that distantly, as though watching someone else, and the tears became steam as they touched his cheeks.

He felt the earth between his fingers, and Danny made the connection that he must have ended up on the ground. He could feel the cold weight of the Thermos pressed against the curve of his spine, and it added another layer of worry to this. Since becoming a ghost, the Thermos had never once felt cold.

The pain didn't subside, but Danny managed to yank himself to his feet. He stumbled, and would have fallen if he wasn't a _ghost_ who didn't need to stand. His hands were glowing green, but, wait, that wasn't entirely accurate. _Everything_ was glowing green. His suit was practically radiating it, and Danny could only imagine what his skin must look like. His hair was whipped into a frenzy by the wind, and to a shocked onlooker, he might have looked very much like a green flame.

For a moment, Danny almost felt in control. It felt like he could manage the pain long enough to get back to town, and then Jazz or Sam or Tucker would have some idea of what to do.

And then his control snapped.

Everything came rushing out, and Danny found himself amazed by the sheer raw _power_ of it all. He heard someone screaming, and he realized with a start that it was himself. _This_ felt like dying. His body felt like it was on fire, and even when he opened his eyes, all he could see was the energy he was letting out. Forcing it out made his temperature drop, but Danny barely even recognized it until he realized that he was shooting ice out of his hands. He felt like he was falling apart, and he couldn't even tell if it was getting close to being _finished_ or not.

The storm felt like nothing. Suddenly, Danny was a storm, only he couldn't even begin to guess at the results of this.

And then it stopped, almost as quickly and unexpectedly as it had started. Danny felt himself fall, and he felt the ground when he hit it, but he couldn't do anything more than groan. It was a relief to feel his transformation wash over him, and he laid in the dirt in his human form as he struggled to just _breathe_. It took too much energy to even lift his head, let alone hold his transformation.

The rain was still pounding down, and the wind was still sharp enough to cut into his skin. The entire process had taken maybe a few minutes, but to Danny, it had felt more like an eternity. He had never felt so exhausted in his entire life.

Somehow, he managed to keep himself awake. After what felt like days, he pushed himself up onto hands and knees. He rubbed the mud off of his face and opened his eyes. For a moment, he watched the rain clean his hands over the dirt. It wasn't coming down quite so hard anymore, but it still didn't show any sign of stopping. Somehow, miraculously, the Thermos was still attached to his back. Danny had never been so grateful that it was resistant to ghost powers. He turned his arms over a few times, but despite the burning, he was certain that he had felt, there wasn't any blackened skin on his body. He would check better when he got home, but for the moment, getting home at all had to come first.

He climbed shakily to his feet and then froze. It was like a war zone. Whatever his bursts of ectoplasmic energy hadn't incinerated, his ice powers had frozen solid. He made it about two steps before his knees buckled, and Danny hit the ground hard. Buildings were in ruin for as far as he could see, and ice covered the ground with spikes pointing up as though they had ripped through the crust of the earth itself. He didn't see any bodies, but Danny knew without a shadow of a doubt that every channel would be reporting the fatality count by the next morning.

He felt sick.

 _Guess that's what happens when you can't control yourself_ , Danny thought almost ludicrously. He didn't have the will to get to his feet again. He sat in the mud, in a circle of carnage that _he had caused_ , until paramedics forced him into the back of an ambulance. And even then, he refused to do anything but blink.

Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was broken homes and broken people, and it was _all his fault._


	10. Day 10: Crossover

Danny sighed, staring out the window of the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle with disinterest. It was nice that Tucker and Sam had been allowed to come along on their 'family road trip,' but after the first few hours crammed in the RV, the conversation had dwindled off and they drove in silence. Ghost-related subjects were obviously to be avoided around his parents, but even Danny was surprised by just how much he didn't like to discuss around his parents. The size of the list made him feel guilty.

The RV started to slow down, and Danny's head shot up. _Finally_ , a change. People always went on and on about how great nature was. At least the city had some diversity. All he saw in the forests of small-town Oregon was green. Even the air seemed green, and it went on as far as the eye could see.

The trees stopped so suddenly that it almost hurt Danny's eyes. He blinked against the sunlight, and a look of amazement spread across his face as he got his first look at their destination. It was a tiny town, settled in between two conjoined mountains. They had an incredible arch, that shouldn't have been scientifically possible. Then again, they weren't here for anything "scientific."

The RV sped past a sign that read " _Gravity Falls, Oregon_." It was bizarre. Danny had never seen a more unnaturally normal town, and he knew at once that they had arrived for a good reason.

* * *

"Alright, kids," Maddie smiled as they got out of the cramped RV, stretching, "Jack and I are going to ask the locals about the strange readings we got from here last summer. We were going to check it out sooner, but it hadn't seemed appropriate until the ghost activity in Amity Park died down. Now, you can all look around, but try not to bother any of the locals. And meet back here before the sun sets."

All four kids nodded, and Maddie hurried after Jack. Already, he had started questioning some of the people on the street, and he needed more supervision than a group of teenagers.

They all shared a look. "Where to first?" Jazz asked after a moment. It wasn't like they were going to be sitting on the sidelines during this. Last summer, there had been an unusual spike in off the charts energy from this part of Oregon. Jack and Maddie were determined to find the reason behind it, and so were the kids.

The faint buzz of his three friends talking filled his ears, but Danny wasn't listening. His wandering gaze had focused on a sign hanging off of a wooden post not far from where they were standing. It was cheaply painted and was stuck in place with a bent nail, but it practically drew him to it.

"Hey," he spoke up suddenly, and pointed to the sign, "what about that? The Mystery Shack."

Sam raised an eyebrow. She walked over to the sign, reading the cramped writing along the bottom. "Seriously? It's just some tourist trap. Do you think there would be anything worthwhile at a place like that?"

And, oddly enough, he did. Danny nodded. "Yeah, I do. Can we at least check it out?"

"Does it matter?" Tucker bemoaned, typing furiously on his PDA. "No matter where I go here, I don't have a signal anyway. Why do people live here? What am I supposed to do if I can't use my technology?"

Jazz sighed. "Let's just go take a look at the tourist trap."

* * *

They must have made for one odd group of teenagers as they walked into the Mystery Shack. A goth girl, a geek frantically texting without even bothering to look up, and while Jazz was dressed normally, she glanced around the place with disdain. Obviously, she didn't want to be there. Danny thought that he looked the most normal, but even the t-shirt and blue jeans felt out-of-place in the appropriately-named shack.

There was a tour underway already, which was good. The man in charge easily towered over Danny, and his "largeness" reminded Danny distinctly of his father. He had a childish smile on his face as he showed people the "exhibits" in the other room, and wonder as he talked about each and every one of them that made it difficult to believe he was just reciting lines.

Danny didn't want to be bothered with something like that.

Ever the nosy investigator, Jazz went right up to the woman running the cashier and started up a very forced, _very_ casual conversation. Jazz was more awkward than she was normally, but the woman didn't seem to mind. She talked like she was used to it, and while Jazz kept her busy, Danny wandered off. He and Sam shared a knowing _very_ Ever the nosy investigator, Jazz went right up to the woman running the cashier and started up a very forced, look, and started off in separate directions. Tucker followed, but his face was buried in his PDA. He was determined to hunt down a steady signal, and nothing was going to get in his way.

All of the other customers seemed to have, thankfully, gone on the tour. The gift shop was empty. Danny crouched behind a display of shirts and went ghost as quickly as he could. It was bright, thanks to the large windows, and he heard the woman that Jazz was talking to get distracted for only a moment before Jazz dragged her back into the conversation.

Danny let out the breath he had been holding and concentrated for a moment until the familiar tingle of invisibility spread over him. Intangibility came next, and he started floating through walls. He wasn't sure _why,_ and it wasn't like him to be so invasive without any good reason, but something about this whole house was nagging at him. It didn't feel right. It was a flimsy excuse, yes, but it didn't hurt to check.

He checked the back rooms first. They had the living quarters, a bathroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen. It had a homey, cozy feeling to it, and that only made Danny feel worse about looking around. He was invading people's privacy. But, hopefully, he would be done quickly, and no one would know about this guilt except himself.

There were two teenagers in the house, both who looked younger than Danny but not by more than a year or two. They were twins, most likely, and Danny tried not to spend too long watching them. It was creepy. The boy was sitting in the living room in his pajamas, scribbling away in a worn, leather-bound journal, and his sister was still dozing in bed. That made sense, considering that it was a Saturday morning. Provided that there were no ghost attacks, Danny would have taken the opportunity to sleep in, too.

The second floor was even more unremarkable than the first floor. At least the first floor had some interesting displays, but the second floor was about as normal as it got. There were a few bedrooms set up, another bathroom, a few closets, and that was it. Danny was considering giving up, but he was determined now. He had started sneaking around, and he didn't want to change back and have _nothing_ to tell his friends about. Even though he hadn't seen a hatch to the basement, Danny decided to try it, anyway. Underground was the only place he hadn't checked.

Most of it was nothing but solid dirt. Danny didn't need to breathe as a ghost, but he still didn't like the idea of being crushed underground. He quickly tried to find some kind of open area. It was by sheer luck that he found a stairwell. It was odd — he had floated through every door, and not a single one of them had had stairs behind it.

Danny landed on his feet, quickly gauging his surroundings. The plain, stone stairs were as unremarkable as anything else in this house. His real interest was in the elevator at the end of the hall. There was an unfamiliar tug in his gut that told him to walk forward, so he did.

According to the dial above, there were only three possible floors. He was already on the first, and he wondered what was on the second and third levels. Was it connected to the bizarre energy readings his parents had gotten from here last summer? According to them, it had last for days, at such a high energy level that a hole in space-time would have needed to be made for it to get so mind-boggling unstable.

Lost in thought, Danny didn't notice the dial above the elevator switching from one to two and back again, until the elevator doors slid apart. By reflex, he turned himself invisible, floating up off of the floor. An old man stepped out of the elevator — if Danny had to guess, he would say either sixty or seventy. He looked almost comedic. Danny would have laughed if he wasn't still shaken from the suddenness of the elevator. The man was wearing red-tinted goggles, a lot like the ones that Danny's mom tended to favor. He had an odd device clutched in his hands, one that Danny couldn't even begin to guess the function of. And then, to his surprise, the man focused in on him. Wasn't he invisible?

"Ha! I've got you, ghost!" Danny was too stunned to move and only floated in place as the flick of a switch launched a net at him. Automatically, he tried to go intangible and pass through it, but the odd material it was made from wouldn't let him.

The old man lowered his odd gun, and bent down, hefting the net up over his shoulder with a surprising amount of ease. "Amazing," he said, mostly to himself. "I've never come across a ghost that looked so remarkably humanoid. I'll need to make a note of that."

He stepped into the elevator, carrying Danny with him, and pressed the button for the third floor. Danny felt some of his earlier curiosity washing away. Now, he wasn't very interested in what might be waiting down in the basement. He tried to think of something to say, some way to talk himself out of this, but nothing came to him. He had never been caught like this — completely off-guard, with no knowledge of who or what was waiting for him.

After a tense, but short, elevator ride, they stepped out. Danny craned his neck to get a good look at the walls they passed. They had very intricate symbols drawn into them, the meaning of which he could only begin to guess at.

They entered what Danny thought was the main room. It was definitely an underground cave, and there was probably more of it, but a huge curtain hanging along the far wall blocked any view of what might have been there ( _the weird pull in his stomach was stronger than ever, and Danny had the bizarre feeling that if he could just catch a look of what was behind that curtain, all of his questions would be answered_ ). It looked like the man was in the middle of renovation. Half of the equipment in the room was broken, torn up, or both, and sleek, new systems were haphazardly pushed into their places. There was a pile of scraps and broken inventions stacked along one wall, and several work desks that were so scattered with random objects that Danny couldn't even begin to guess what they were used for.

"Really?" A gruff voice greeted them, and Danny tilted his head to spot another old man walking up to meet the one who had grabbed him. "That's the "level eight" emergency you had to go take care of? The kids look scarier than that thing." Danny couldn't help but be annoyed by that. He knew that a teenager with white hair didn't _exactly_ strike fear into people's' hearts, but he thought that he could still be at least a little intimidating.

"You don't understand, Stanley." Now, the man sounded excited as he walked over to a large table. There, he set the net with Danny inside of it down and pulled his goggles off before he started shuffling around through some boxes. "Of all the strange things that have happened in this town, one of the things I know the least about is ghosts. Yes, I'm sure that my journal presents a lot of bravo, but _this one_ is something else entirely. It has weight, for one. Ghosts shouldn't weigh anything, Stanley. It's very small for something with such high energy readings, and unusually calm once captured. I've only had a few minutes with it, and I'll admit that I'm a bit lost. It's remarkably detailed and looks very human. But why? I can't think of how that would help unless it's a manipulator, but then, why didn't it try to talk to me? Amazing."

The second man — Stanley — rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Poindexter." He seemed to have experience with this previously because he only glanced at Danny before going back to whatever he was working on before they came in.

After a moment of digging, the man who caught Danny in the first place came back with a shackle. It looked like the same weird material as the net, and Danny swallowed thickly. Not noticing, the man attached it to his ankle through the net, and knelt down to loop the other end through the leg of the table. He laughed, faintly. "All of this old ghost equipment… I haven't used these in decades. I can't believe the ghost detector worked at all, but I'm glad it did. What a scientific discovery."

He reached up and undid the net easily, and Danny frowned as he pushed it off of himself. He tried to turn invisible or intangible or even just float, but none of it worked. He wasn't surprised, but it was kind of annoying. "It's hardly a scientific discovery," he said, much to the surprise of the man examining him. "I mean, I've known that I was weird for a while now. If anything, you're just late to the party."

Instead of being bothered by his sarcasm, the man seemed even more interested. "Weird? In what way? Do you know why?" He pressed.

Danny grimaced. "Uh… look, you seem like a nice guy, but I don't want to talk about this. I would much rather be let go so I can get back to…" he trailed off, and then jolted as an idea came to his head. "Actually, do you have any idea what happened here last summer?" Now it was the stranger's turn to stiffen. "Yeah, there were some really weird readings from around here last summer. Do you have any idea of what might have caused it?"

He felt a little proud of himself for throwing this man off of his game. He seemed like the type of guy who always knew what was coming, and how to respond in a situation, and there was something uncomfortably satisfying about seeing him so caught off guard. "That's— how do you know about that?" He glared at Danny. Thankfully, he was smart enough to see that lying wasn't going to work. Still, Danny didn't expect that getting answers was going to be easy, either.

"I—" Danny started to say, only to be interrupted as the door to the stairs slid open with a faint hiss.

The two kids who he had seen in the house before walked in. They were both still in pajamas, which told Danny that this was a casual thing. The lab under their house was perfectly normal. At that, he couldn't help but smile. He understood that feeling more than he probably should.

"Great uncle Ford, I was looking at some of the findings you have in your second journal, and I—" His sister tapped him on the shoulder, cutting off whatever the boy had been about to say. He gave her an annoyed look, and then followed her gaze.

To his surprise, they both looked amazed, and not at all confused. He hesitated, and then lifted his hand, waving a little. "Um… hi?"

The boy looked like he was going to faint and abruptly snapped his journal shut. The girl had no such problem with that — she squealed, and before anyone in the room could stop her, darted over to Danny. She didn't hesitate to hug him, squeezing so tight that it actually hurt a little bit. He winced, and relaxed when the old man — hadn't the kid called him "Ford"? — pried her off.

"Kids!" Stanley set down his work, walking over to them. "What's gotten into you two? You especially, Mabel." He shot the girl a warning look that she didn't seem to notice.

"Are you saying that you have _no idea_ who he is?" Mabel had refrained herself from hugging Danny _no idea_ "Are you saying that you have again, and was now clinging to Ford's arm as she grinned. "Dipper! Dipper, tell them, I think I'm going to pass out—!"

That got the boy's attention, and he snapped out of whatever daze he was in, focusing on Danny. Again, the ghost boy waved. "What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost," he joked.

Dipper turned red, but at least he wasn't sickly pale anymore. He cleared his throat and walked closer. "W-Well…" He started slowly, looking at Danny with an odd expression, "last summer, after dealing with that ghost at Northwest Manor, I wanted to… do some research to add to your collection, great uncle Ford. It seemed like not a lot of information, so I thought that more couldn't _hurt_. While I was looking, though, I found… well, _him_." He pointed to Danny. "There's this town that gets a lot of ghost attacks—"

"Amity Park," Danny added in helpfully. That earned him some weird looks. He frowned. "Hey, it's my hometown. Just helping you get the name right," he muttered defensively.

There was a lull in the conversation, and then Dipper nodded. "Y-Yeah, right. Amity Park. They get a lot of ghost attacks there, and _he_ has been recorded as one of the first. There's a lot of blurry photos and shaky videos, and online, he kind of has a… reputation. They call him Phantom. He has a huge fanbase, but no one knows anything about him, other than he's always seen fighting ghosts that are hurting people. Or," he added on hastily, narrowing his eyes at Danny suspiciously, "kidnapping mayors, robbing banks, and endangering people."

Mabel shot Dipper a glare, but Danny just snorted. "Figures that they got that on camera," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I can explain all of that, but actually, I think that I need to go. Do you guys know what time it is? I need to meet up with— with someone before sunset."

Ford laughed — actually laughed. "You're not going anywhere," he stated. "I don't care how much of a "hero" you think you are. Ghosts can't get out of this cuff."

Danny mulled it over. He could always go human, but how would that help? It would only make them want to keep him here longer, and if these two kids knew as much about him as they claimed to, then the entire internet would know by the next day. He looked at the shackle around his ankle, and much to the surprise of those watching him, started to fiddle with it.

"What—?" Ford sputtered, knocking Danny's hands back. "Don't touch that!" He snapped. "You are unbelievable. This teenage appearance is realistic enough, but _acting_ like a teenager isn't going to gain any sympathy from people who know better."

"'Know better'?" Danny repeated, and he narrowed his eyes. "What do you _know_? I've only been doing this a year, and I know ten times the stuff about ghosts that you do! Oh, wait, ten times zero is still _zero_ …" He trailed off sarcastically.

Over Ford's shoulder, Stanley and Mabel shared a look. Danny wasn't sure what they were thinking, but after a moment, Stanley silently nudged the two kids to the door. Something about the simple gesture made dread curl in his chest. Suddenly, Danny _really_ didn't want the kids to leave. They felt like the old things standing between him and experimentation.

"Be as sarcastic as you want," Ford replied, not seeming to notice that he was now alone. "You're not going anywhere until I have _answers_. And I am known to be very _persuasive_ when I'm impatient."

Subconsciously, Danny shrank back. He had the odd, tickling thought that this wasn't going to be as easy to get out of as he originally thought.

* * *

"Nothing." Maddie flipped through her blank notebook with a look of disdain. "I can't believe that no one in this town has any idea what we're talking about! An energy spike as massive as the one we're talking about would have been impossible to go unnoticed," she groaned.

Jack put a sympathetic hand on his wife's shoulder. "We can always try again tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll come up with something," he said brightly. "The energy could have zapped their memories, but we could get them to remember something if we knew how to trigger it."

Maddie smiled tiredly. Sure, her husband wasn't the most intelligent or subtle person, but his energetic positivity was invaluable. She didn't think that she could have made it through all the years of failure if he hadn't been by her side every step of the way.

"What do you say to dinner?" He suggested. "If the kids haven't already eaten, I'm sure that there's somewhere around here where we can go to get some food."

Unlike most of the time, Maddie found herself appreciating the suggestion. She nodded. "That sounds nice, Jack." They turned the corner, and part of her nervousness faded when she saw that the RV was still where she left it. And after she knew that her kids were safe, her bad mood would be a think of the past. "Let's just grab the kids, and…" she trailed off. Even in the low lighting of dusk, Maddie could count how many people were standing around her RV. Cold fear settled in her gut as she counted out only three, and she hurried forward. "Jasmine," she called once she was close enough for her daughter to hear, "where's Danny?" Maddie tried to sound calm. It was perfectly natural that he might just be in the bathroom, or relaxing in the RV after a long day. But, then, why did Sam and Tucker look so nervous? And why wouldn't Jazz meet her gaze?

At the sound of her name, Jazz visibly winced. "Oh, mom, I…" she bit her lip, hugging her arms around herself. "Mom, I swear, it was only a second. I— there was no one else, and I didn't think— I wasn't thinking, I— mom, _I'm so sorry_." She wiped her eyes as tears started running down her face.

Maddie knew that she tended to be a little, well, _oblivious_ , but not even the simplest person could have missed those implications. "Jack," she managed, feeling breathless and dazed, " _where's Danny_?"


	11. Day 11: Stars

**A/N: Takes place after Phantom Planet.**

* * *

"You know, a guy could get used to this," Tucker sighed, relaxing in the plush seats. "Not even the mayor gets this kind of treatment." He had his feet up on the small table, and Sam scowled as she pushed his feet back onto the carpeted flooring.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "You guys are too easily impressed." She shot a pointed look at Danny, who was busy familiarizing himself with the mini-fridge. "One limo and you're drooling at this guy's feet. We haven't even met him yet, you know."

"Yeah, but he wants to interview us on live TV," Tucker replied. "What more do we need to know? Guy sends a limo and a one-way ticket to stardom, and you're still suspicious."

Danny got back onto the seat, sitting down on Sam's other side with an armful of whatever looked good. Rich people must have a completely different market because he only recognized half of the drinks, and the other half, he had never gotten the opportunity to try. "Come on, you have to admit that this is nice." Danny smiled, and that seemed to make Sam relax a little.

She reached over and grabbed one of the drinks in Danny's arms, opening it and sipping it with a grimace. "I'm just worried," Sam muttered. "I've grown up with this stuff, guys. I can tell when someone is trying too hard to impress you." With a huff, she slumped against the seats, sipping on her drink.

"What's wrong with that?" Danny asked. "It's just one interview. It's not like we have to sign away our lives to this guy." He pointed out. Truthfully, Danny barely even remembered his name.

He was some big-shot news anchor in America, and because Danny, Sam, and Tucker were minors, he had come to Amity Park with a temporary set-up and crew to conduct an interview in their normal news station. Only, he had brought a limo. And three paychecks with a lot of zeroes. Sam had refused hers outright and was only coming along because Danny had begged. He had learned his lesson in the past. And, sure, international fame was a bigger deal than being in the "A-List" in high school, but the same basic idea applied. He didn't want to let this go to his head and end up losing his _real_ friends in the process.

"Come on, you two lovebirds," Tucker winked and moved over to dodge when Sam made a move to elbow him, "Now's no time to fight. Let's just do one interview and see how it goes. Pretty much no one knows a think about Danny, except that he saved the world. This is good coverage." It was obvious that Sam still didn't like the idea, but at least she would be there to keep either of them from doing anything stupid.

It only took a few more minutes for them to arrive. The limo was kind of overkill for three teenagers who only needed to travel twelve miles, but Danny couldn't complain. He opened the door of the car and had to pause. There were _people_ there. Other news channels, it looked like, and as soon as he got out of the car, people started taking pictures. It felt surreal. He was a skinny teenager in a t-shirt and jeans, and these people wanted _pictures_. Of _him_. And they were shouting things, too, and sticking microphones in his face.

"Danny, can you transform for us?" One photographer shouted.

"Is it true that you're dating Paulina Sanchez?" Asked another.

"Are you going to be taking your parents to court for child endangerment?"

"What can you tell us about all of the bad things Phantom has been seen doing on camera?"

It was impossible to focus on any one of them because someone else would immediately interrupt with another bizarre question. The longer they talked, the most absurd their questions seemed. At some point, one of them asked Danny to explain how he became half-ghost, and he was dumbfounded by the knowledge that someone wanted a fourteen-year-old to _discuss how he died._ And while he wasn't as "traumatized" by it as someone who died really ought to be, he was taken aback by the question. These people knew where ghosts came from. Why did they want him to talk about it? Did they think that he had been bitten by some kind of ghost spider?

He had never been more relieved to have his friends with him than he was at that moment. Sam grabbed his hand, gripping tight to Tucker's sleeve with her other. "No comment," she repeated over and over in a calm, clipped voice as she shouldered her way through the countless people. She pushed open the door to the news station with one kick and dragged Danny and Tucker in after her. The news anchors outside didn't leave, but they didn't pursue them any further, either.

Danny smoothed his shirt over, running a hand through his messy hair in an attempt to make it look like he _hadn't_ just been mobbed. "Wow," he managed finally. "I didn't think that people… well, that they would _care_. About _me_. _Me_ , guys."

Sam put a hand on his shoulder and managed a dry smile. "Welcome to stardom, Danny," she replied. "You had better learn to get used to it."

It seemed like something that was impossible to get used to.

Even the walk to the set was… _unnatural_. The secretary who showed them the way when they asked was far too polite and kind to be natural. She was very touchy, and kept putting her hand on Danny's shoulder, or just brushing hair as she gestured. She talked a lot, mostly about how _excited_ and _thrilled_ she was that Danny could be joining them. The woman all but ignored Tucker and Sam. Luckily, Tucker was too awed to notice, and Sam didn't care one way or the other. Everyone they passed was smiling, waving at Danny, and greeting him like they were long-time friends.

And he had his own _dressing room._ It was temporary, sure, switched out for all of the guests they had coming onto the show, but still. They had his name printed on a star and a room that was for _him._ It was enough to render him speechless. Danny was still trying to process the fact that _he was famous,_ to the point that he wasn't even aware enough to enjoy it.

It still seemed absolutely absurd that people were suddenly interested in _Danny_ , but he _had_ saved the world. And being part ghost was pretty fascinating. His parents wouldn't tell him anything, but Danny was pretty sure that letters in the mail kept showing up asking for him to consent to scientific study. He had the whole world's attention, and it was terrifying.

There was a knock on the door, and before Danny could answer, it was being opened. A tall man with an obviously fake tan and a stupid haircut stepped in. His smile took up about half his face, and he had small eyes that seemed to drill holes through Danny. It was unnerving. "Hi, I'm Rob Bittenborger. Nice to meet you, Danny." He stuck out his hand, and Danny did the polite thing and shook it. "I'll be conducting your interview today. Right now, we're just going to get you and your friends into hair and makeup for some touch-ups, and I'll see you on the set before shooting starts, okay?"

Danny didn't remember agreeing to that, but the next thing he knew, a group of strangers was surrounding him and being _far_ too casual about close contact. He had hands in his hair and little tools that he didn't even know the name of, running over his face. He had no idea what they were doing — there was so many of them that he couldn't even see the mirror.

They were gone almost as soon as they had appeared, and Danny took the moment he had to himself to look in the mirror. It was… subtle. For all of that work, they hadn't changed much. His face looked smoother, and any sign of acne had been expertly hidden under the makeup. His cheekbones looked more defined, and they had somehow managed to make his soft, babyish face appear more angular like he was closer to 18 than 15. He wasn't sure how much he liked it.

"Live in ten!" A guy who looked like the director shouted. He had Danny moved to the set, and a moment later, Sam and Tucker joined him. They looked just as dazed as he was. How did people get used to this kind of treatment?

He wasn't sure what to do with himself. As much as people tried to impress him, a fourteen-year-old wasn't going to be very helpful when there were only ten minutes until the news station went live.

The news anchor — Rob Mittendorfer, if Danny was remembering correctly — approached them. He handed a three of them a bottle of water. "You're going to need those," he said with complete sureness, giving Danny a wink to go along with his blinding smile. "Here, you three are going to sit over here." He led them over to the simple, blue couch next to the desk he would be sitting behind. He had Tucker sit on the end, Sam in the middle, and put Danny closest to the desk.

Danny wasn't sure how much time they had left until they started recording, but he was sure that it wasn't enough. "Um, what—?" He tried, but Rob was soon distracted by the director and walked away to leave Danny's question unfinished. Confused, he shared a look with Tucker around Sam's shoulder.

"Uh, is it just me, or did they forget to give us a script?" Tucker frowned. "We don't even know what questions we're going to be asked!"

Sam snorted. "You two are unbelievable," she sighed. "Why do you think they're doing this on live television? It's so they can _humiliate_ us. There's no script. They're just banking on typical teenage awkwardness to completely ruin us." She explained, glaring at a spot on the floor.

"What?" Danny blinked. "No, they-they wouldn't—" _Except that they would._ There was a tiny voice in the back of Danny's head, reminding him that he had been wrong before. No one had told him anything. He didn't even know what the name of this news station was, let alone how to behave on it. What was he going to do if he got asked a question he didn't want to answer? He couldn't begin to guess. They really _had_ set him up for failure.

Before he could figure out what to do about it, cameras rolled into place. Rob got into place, sitting behind the desk and folding his hands in front of him with a beaming smile. There were little lights on the camera that told him which one was currently rolling, but that didn't help much. He couldn't spend the entire time turning his head to look at the camera. He winced at the thought. That would make for a very awkward interview.

"Alright," the director positioned himself off of the set, taking a seat and staring at them expressionless, "we're live in three, two…"

The stage lights came out with a quiet hum, and the rest of the room was tossed into darkness. Danny could barely see the director in front of him. He squinted against the light but quickly adjusted. From the shadows, the steady blinking of a red light stared back at him. He felt panic quickly overtaking him, and fought it off. He had learned to use ghost powers almost completely alone, defeated ghosts several times more powerful than him, and saved the world. He could scrape together enough confidence to make it through one interview.

It was easy to pull some of that bravo he displayed during fights. He relaxed and smiled, and to anyone who didn't know him better than that, Danny looked perfectly at ease. Sam shifted, subtly pressing their legs together. It was a simple gesture, but knowing that she was right there, with him, made Danny calm down considerably. He put his hand down between them and closed his eyes for a brief moment when hers had gone down to cover his gently. It was… nice. It felt ridiculously good to touch Sam without having to worry about the ensuing awkwardness. He had never known that dating someone could be such a casual comfort.

"Welcome to _National Noteworthy News_!" Rob was saying, and Danny wondered how keeping up that fake smile didn't make his cheeks cramp. "I'm your host, Rob Bittenborger. Today, we're being joined by the young teen who saved the world, along with his two friends, who he says have helped him immeasurably." The blinking red dot of the camera went out, and a different one switched on, focusing on Danny and his friends on the couch. Rob turned to him, and Danny followed suit, shifting his body to face his interviewer instead of the camera. "So, Danny," Rob put his elbows on the desk, propping his chin up against his hands and leaning forward, "Why don't we start with the question that must be eating everyone up. How did you become _gifted_ with these ghost powers?"

Danny laughed a little. "That's a forward question, Rob," he replied good-naturedly. "Most ghosts are defensive about how they died. It's a very 'personal' experience."

Rob looked taken aback by the statement, and Danny felt a vindictive piece of satisfaction at the look on his face. There was an awkward, strained moment where no one said anything, and then Sam elbowed him in the side. "Danny quit it with your morbid jokes. You know that you don't care." She lectured, but she was fighting not to smile. He bit back a grin, and Sam turned her attention to Rob. "Actually, it was my fault," Sam answered. "See, Danny's parents were building a portal to the Ghost Zone. I was always into that "occult" stuff, so even though the portal didn't work, I encouraged Danny to go inside. He did, and there was this… explosion."

Now she had Rob's attention. He didn't even seem to mind that the main guest wasn't explaining. "Explosion?" He asked. This time, when he leaned in closer, he looked genuinely interested instead of faking it.

"Explosion," Tucker confirmed, drawing attention over to him. "I was there, too. There was a huge burst of energy, and we heard Danny… screaming."

Danny turned a faint shade of red. He wished Tucker hadn't put it like that. "I was dying," he said defensively. "Being electrocuted isn't a painless experience." Actually, his memories of _the Accident_ weren't very clear. It was a fuzzy, pained blur. He remembered waking up afterward with white hair and green eyes, and had been certain for a few minutes that he was dead. "I'm not dead, though," Danny added when he saw the look on Rob's face. "I've tested it. I still need to breathe, and eat, and sleep."

Sam nodded in agreement. "He's still plenty human." She gave his hand a squeeze, and Danny bit back a smile. He knew that they probably looked like a couple, and they were, but Danny wondered how it would go over on TV. Sam's parents didn't even know that the two of them were together, and he wasn't sure if she wanted to tell the entire nation about their relationship status.

"Do you feel like showing everyone?" Rob quickly recovered, and smiled, gesturing at the camera. "There are statues of you in the capital of every nation in the world, but I don't think that a lot of our views have really gotten to meet you, _Danny Phantom_."

His gaze went to the camera, which were switching again as the director decided on the best angle to record from. Another round of nervousness hit him, but he nodded and stood up. It meant letting go of Sam's hand, but he stepped away from the couch and out further onto the set. He considered saying his catchphrase, but despite himself, his mind went back to the first time he had said it in front of Vlad, how he had said that it was 'hilarious.' He was a hero to these people, so… he might as well make a show out of it.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, his blue eyes were neon green, glowing vividly. It was never easy to force his ghost powers through his human form the way he was, but Danny couldn't help but grin. It was certainly worth the looks he was getting from the crew. He let his body float off of the ground as weightlessness took over, and it was easy to pull on his transformation. There was a faint, familiar tingling sensation as a ring of energy washed over his body. When Danny opened his eyes again, white hair hung over his eyes instead of the black he had been born with.

"Oh, hey," he spoke in his echoing voice, turning to look down at the impressed Rob Bittenborger, "Check this out. It's not exactly revolutionary, but I've been practicing." He cupped his hands together, and concentrated, forcing the cold out through his fingertips. He frowned as he worked, keeping the ice soft and in small pieces. When he parted his hands, snow fell to the floor, and Danny brought his hands up to his mouth, blowing slowly. Gentle snow covered the set, dusting a thin layer over everyone. He did his best to keep the snow off of the equipment and stopped before it became too much.

His feet touched down, barely disturbing the snow, and Sam ran up to give him a hug. "Why didn't you show me?" She asked, pulling back to look at the snow. "Wow, you're such a fast learner. You've barely had ice powers for a few months."

Tucker had his PDA out, and he snapped a few photos of the indoor wonderland with a smile. "Yeah, dude. This is seriously cool stuff." He pocketed the PDA when he was done. Danny figured that the photos would be viewable one of his fan sites in a few days, but he didn't mind. It wasn't like the pictures Tucker took were embarrassing.

"So," Rob was standing now, and he cleared his throat to gain their attention, "are you going to make me ask?" He gestured at Danny and Sam — still wrapped in a warm embrace — a knowing look on his face.

At the prompting, Sam looked annoyed, and her face went a faint shade of red. Danny expected her to pull back, but to his surprise, she stayed right where she was. "No," she said shortly, tilting her head up a little to look at Danny. "I think that it's obvious without us spelling it out."

Danny kept on arm around Sam's waist, the other hand going up. He grimaced, and closed his eyes, concentrating. Sucking ice towards him was much harder than pushing it away. The snow wasn't natural, and it still had traces of Danny's ecto-signature in it. He felt the familiarity of himself from every particle and called them back to his hand. It wasn't a very smooth method of cleanup, but it was fast. Danny compressed the snow in his hand, curling his fingers around it and squeezing. He was left with an ice cube in his palm and dropped it to the floor. He figured that a little puddle of water was easier to clean up than a room covered in snow.

"I think you broke him," Sam whispered into Danny's ear, and he risked a glance over his shoulder at their interviewer. Rob had completely lost his television personality and looked caught off guard, unsure how to continue.

Giving her an amused look, Danny arched an eyebrow. "Is that good?" He muttered, trying not to look directly at the camera.

Sam laughed a little, and looped her arms around Danny's neck, planting a kiss on his cheek. She giggled when his face turned green, and he grimaced. He always thought that it made him look like he was ill, not as though he was blushing. "I think you'll be able to manage being a star," she replied, dragging one hand down to press the logo on his chest. "So far, this has been a great start."


	12. Day 12: Callback

The calls kept coming in, at such a rate that Danny could hardly keep up with them. To do that, he was going to need a team of ten secretaries working the Fenton phone line for a week.

He would fully admit that he hadn't thought through the proper repercussions of revealing himself to the world. People practically _worshipped_ him when he so much as stepped outside. There was a permanent little camp set out on his front yard, people with cameras and microphones hoping to either catch him for an interview or get his family and friends to answer their bizarrely personal questions. Suddenly, _everyone_ wanted Danny around. Other towns, states, hell, even foreign _countries_ suddenly had "urgent need" for Danny's assistance. He was swamped with the responsibilities of being a world-recognized hero, and the only one of his kind.

It was exhausting.

Their inbox had filled up the day after Danny's secret aired on the news, and it hadn't been emptied since. Sometimes, at night, Danny would idly flick through some of them when he had problems sleeping. He would mark down the more interesting ones for his parents to worry about, and struggle not to pass out as he worked his way through them. He could make a sizable dent in their messages, but by the next morning, it would always be full again.

Danny muffled a yawn, clicking the button on the side of their home phone to skip from one message to the next.

 _"Dr. Jack and Madeline Fenton, I was hoping to talk to you about your remarkable son, Danny—"_

 _"Hi, this is the president of Amity Park's official Danny Phantom fan club—"_

 _"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity we're here to offer you! Your son will never—"_

 _"I know this is my fifth message, but this interview would really—"_

 _"Help!"_

Danny paused with his finger over the skip button. He frowned. The date on this message was from a week ago, but he didn't feel right in skipping it. There was someone asking him for help, and as "stupidly chivalrous" as it might be, Danny felt that he owed it to at least listen. He lowered his hand, and let the message play.

 _"We're a small group of ectologists who came to the forests of Amity Park to study ghosts up close and personal. We— We caught one, but it's awful. It measured a six out of ten in terms of power, and it didn't take long for it to destroy what little base we had."_ The line crackled, and there was the sound of something large and metal being crushed. The man speaking was cut off for a moment, but when he came back, his breathing was more strained than ever. It was obvious that he was running. _"Please, this is the only number we could think to call. I have no idea how many people are still alive, but if even one of them is alive—"_ Again, static interrupted the transmission. When it came back on, Danny winced as he heard a blood-curdling scream in the distance. _"I'm begging you, just send help!"_ The line went dead.

For a moment, Danny wasn't sure what to do. It was an old call. They could have already managed to subdue the ghost. Or… worse. He looked at the number ID on the little phone display, and then quickly typed it into the keyboard. A callback couldn't hurt. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay. He couldn't very well go flying off without having any idea where they were.

The phone rang four times, and then static filled the line. Danny held his breath. _"Hello?"_ The man from the message spoke. He sounded sick or injured, and Danny felt a pang of sympathy in his chest.

"Oh, um, hi?" He tried when he realized that the man wasn't going to say anything more. "This is the Fenton household, Danny speaking. I just got your message from— from last week. Are you… okay?" He asked.

The man on the other end laughed, only to be cut off by a violent coughing fit. _"Wow,"_ he sighed. _"I've called dozens of times… Nice to see you're finally answering."_ There was a pause, and the sounded of something moving around before the man spoke again. _"We… we got the ghost trapped in an abandoned lumber mill, but I don't know for how much longer. Those of us left aren't in any condition to make the trek back to town. I was hoping you could come and collect the ghost. If we could get back to our trashed camp, there should still be cars to get us back into town. And get some of the worse people to a hospital."_

Danny was already on his feet. "Alright," he agreed almost instantaneously. "Just give me the address. I'll be there as soon as I can." The man provided an address for the lumber mill, which Danny looked up on his phone before he took off. It had been shut down twenty years ago after the last mayor passed a few bills that protected the forest and vegetation of the town. Now, it was apparently useful for holding level six ghosts.

He thought for a moment about telling his parents, or Jazz, but they were already asleep. He didn't want to wake them up just to tell them about a short mission that would take ten minutes at the most. Just get in, collect the ghost, and get the people out safely. Danny grabbed the Fenton Thermos, changing into his ghost form in the middle of his living room before he shot up through the house and into the night air.

On normal nightly patrols, he liked to take his time and enjoy the freedom that came with flying. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time for that. People were injured. His top speed got close to 140 miles per hour after all the practicing Danny had been doing with speed and endurance, so he pushed himself forward. The lumber mill was thirty miles from his house, and Danny came in sight of it within ten minutes.

He slowed down and grimaced when he got a good look at the building. Well, it certainly _looked_ like there had been a fight. There were holes blasted in the roof and the walls, and the building looked like it was just one wrong step from crumbling.

Danny didn't see anyone outside, so he phased in through the ceiling. It only took him a second to realize that something was wrong. Had he gone to the wrong address? There was nothing in the building. It looked like it had been hollowed out. All of the lodging equipment was long gone, and there was no sign of a ghost or injured people at all.

From behind him, there was a click, the faint sound of machinery sliding into place.

Danny barely had time to react. He turned around just in time to see a glint of metal as a clamp locked around his waist. There was no opportunity for escape — as soon as it touched him, Danny _screamed_. It felt like he had been set on fire, and pain raced up his spine, putting every inch of his body on edge. White spots danced in his vision, but maybe that was just the light of his transformation, because the next thing Danny knew, he was on the ground in an aching heap. The cuff had stopped burning as soon as his ghost form left him, and in the back of his mind, Danny recognized that it must have been designed to only hurt ghosts.

There were hands on his body, moving him onto his back, and he could only groan in faint protest. "Target acquired." A familiar voice sounded off to Danny's left. He couldn't place where he had heard the man before, and the answer nagged at him, just out of reach. The cuff around his waist was removed, and he felt someone slipping ropes around his wrists, tightening them in front of him. Danny shook his head to clear his cloudy thoughts, and let himself be pulled to his feet. He almost fell right back onto the ground, but the men holding him kept him standing.

His vision was fuzzy, but Danny could recognize those white suits anywhere. "The Guys in White…" He tried to sound intimidating — hell, even _angry_ would have been nice — but Danny was almost asleep on his feet. "Threatening" was not something that he was capable of pulling off.

The man with the familiar voice came closer and looked at Danny with distaste. "You're still conscious." He didn't sound happy about it. "It doesn't matter. Our containment fields can hold you whether you're unconscious or not." Suddenly, Danny remembered where he had heard this man before. He was the man on the phone — the one who had begged Danny for his help.

Despite the lingering pain, Danny managed a growl. "You can't just haul me off to some underground lab. The whole world knows who I am. This is a kidnapping, not a 'capture.'" He tried to lurch out of the hands holding him, but they barely had to tighten their hold to keep Danny still. Quietly, he was thankful. Had he actually gotten free, it would have only resulting in him landing flat on his face.

There were no badges or sign of rank, but Danny assumed that the man from the phone was the one in charge here. He smirked faintly. "Maybe," he acknowledged, "but our organization can't get in trouble for a kidnapping if there's no proof. We've made people disappear before, ghost. You won't be the last." He gave a dismissive flick of his wrist, turning his back on Danny.

"Hey!" Danny shouted at him, once again trying to get out of the hands keeping him in place. They tightened down on his shoulders, and as much as Danny tried to hold his ground, he was no match for them. He tried to summon even a fizzle of his ghost powers, but attempting it only made his wrists burn, and he quickly figured out that the odd, glowing rope that was used to tie his hands together was blocking his powers. Even just a hint of upper body strength would have been nice, but Danny didn't even have the energy to walk.

He was pulled outside of the mill, and throngs of men were busy scanning the area, sweeping away any evidence that they had been there at all. One of them noticed the bulge of his phone in his pocket and ignored Danny's protests as he quickly dropped it to the ground and shattered it.

"Take a good look at the sky, freak," one of the men pulling Danny towards their hidden van said with a smirk. "It's the last time you're going to see it." They yanked him into the back of a discrete white van, slammed the door, and plunged Danny's entire life into darkness.


	13. Day 13: Swap

**A/N: Weird AU where Phantom Planet never happened, but Sam and Danny are still dating.**

* * *

The sound of an alarm blaring made Sam lift her head. She muttered groggily to herself and pushed her face against her pillow. Her parents must have messed with her alarm again. Instead of tolling bells, her alarm sounded almost _chipper_. Sam reached for it, fumbling for a moment before she found the snooze button. She frowned and sat up. Had they gotten her a completely different alarm clock? It hadn't felt anything like the one she had had since seventh grade. Sam pushed her hair out of her face and took one look at her room before she paled. The reality was far, _far_ worse than that.

She had to bite back a horrified scream. If it was possible for something to come in pink, it suddenly was. Her room wasn't even the same _shape_. The huge wall of windows that she always kept covered was now just a solid wall, and her windows were now flung wide open, on the other side of her room. The walls were an obnoxious shade of bubblegum pink, the carpeting was _creme_ , and not even Sam's parents had a bed this _huge_ and _pink_. There were curtains hanging from the oak posts as if she was some kind of princess. It almost seemed like she was, actually. Her room had three huge wardrobes, all overflowing with clothes, and the largest vanity set that Sam had ever even laid eyes on. This had to be some kind of nightmare.

Sam went to stand up and winced as her feet touched the ground. Why did they hurt so much? She looked down and then froze. Like a normal person, Sam didn't spend too much time worrying about her feet or memorizing what they looked like, but she knew that hers were far too small. And her skin color was all wrong. There wasn't enough spray tan in the world to make Sam look this color. Why did her leg look so smooth?

Her hair brushed her back, and Sam stiffened. Her pajamas were frilly and lacy, her room looked like a five-year-old girl's fantasy world, and now her hair was long. She stumbled to her feet, ignoring the way they hurt, and hurried over to the vanity.

What she saw almost made her gag.

It was _Paulina_ , but… but Sam couldn't see her own face anywhere. Paulina stared back at her, and when Sam started to hyperventilate, so did the reflection. But that was _impossible_.

Trying to take deep breaths, Sam struggled to remember what had happened yesterday. It was fuzzy, but she definitely remembered a ghost being there. The ghost must have done this to her, then. Sam tried to remember what, but the more she grasped at her memories, the harder they were to hold on to. They soon slipped out of grasp, and Sam groaned. Maybe it would come to her, then. Or, even better, Danny would know. She brightened at the idea. If there had been a ghost attack, he would remember.

As much as Sam loathed to admit it, she was going to be Paulina for the morning. She had to look and act like Paulina, at least until she could get Danny to fix this. She calmed down considerably at the thought. It was fine. She could handle this.

Her attention went to the makeup laid over the vanity. Paulina had a lot of options, but Sam had looked at her caked face enough times to know what shades Paulina wore, and how much. She picked up the lipstick, determined now. Sam Manson had fought ghosts, been to the Ghost Zone and back, and somehow managed to live with her parents for fourteen years without killing herself. She could handle a little makeup.

* * *

Paulina was having the worst morning ever. She knew that she wasn't very smart, but it didn't take long to figure out that she wasn't in her own body. It was awful. She had had to spend an hour in front of the bathroom mirror trying to make herself look presentable. If she was going to be trapped in some loser's body, Paulina was determined to make herself look presentable.

Sam's body had amazing potential. If she would just take care of herself instead of walking around in combat boots and lipstick that clashed with her skin tone, then she would almost be attractive. Paulina curled her hair, made difficult by the shortness of it, applied foundation to add more dimension to her face, tried thirty different shade of blush, and took her time to make sure that everything looked absolutely perfect.

Clothes were harder. Almost everything that Sam owned was either black or completely hideous. It took twenty minutes and resulted in all of Sam's wardrobe being tossed across the room, but Paulina settled on a lavender dress that reached mid-knee. She had dressed Star and Valerie before, so she had no problem looking at someone else's body. The way Paulina saw it, Sam had everything that she did, only her "assets" weren't nearly as perfect and well-cared for as Paulina's. Sam didn't own any heels (not a surprise), but she had a pair of black flats that looked nice enough with the dress. Certainly, they were leaps and bounds better than the typical combat boots.

She walked down the stairs humming quietly to herself. Sure, it had been weird to wake up in someone else's body, but Paulina wasn't worried. She was Sam, so she would hang around that loser, Danny, for the day. Danny Phantom always seemed to appear wherever he was, and since Danny Fenton was Sam's friend, it wouldn't look out of place for her to hang around him. She had no doubt that Phantom would show up at some point during the day, and when he did, he would, of course, help her back into her own body.

"Sam?" A woman's voice called, and Paulina made the quick connection that this must be her mother. Her voice came from the kitchen, and on her hunt for the front door, Paulina decided that she might as well look. "Sam, what are you doing home? We thought that you had already—" Whatever Sam's mom had been about to say, it ended abruptly when Paulina entered the room.

The niceness of Sam's house had been surprising enough. Paulina was certain that she had lived in a cardboard box on the side of the street, but her family obviously had plenty of money. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting from Sam's parents, but it definitely wasn't what she got. They looked like they had just walked off of the cover of a magazine. They were perfect and immaculate, posh and put-together in every way. Paulina found that she was just as stunned as Sam's parents. These two felt _surreal_.

"Oh, Sammy…" Sam's mother sniffed, putting her dainty, gloved hands over her mouth as her eyes began to water. "You said you hated that dress… Sweetheart, I— I'm just so happy that you would—" She rushed forward, sweeping Paulina into a tender hug. Still in a state of shock, Paulina awkwardly lifted her arms to hug Sam's mother back. If she hadn't been crying before, she certainly was after that.

Paulina spent the next ten minutes helping Sam's mom calm down and fix her smudged makeup. After that whole fiasco, she was relieved to be offered a ride to school. The sooner she found someone who could help, the better.

* * *

As it turned out, Sam was not capable of putting on makeup. The more she tried, the more frustrated she became. Thirty minutes came and went, and all Sam got out of it was a messy vanity cabinet and a face that was rubbed red from where she had removed the makeup she had applied less than perfectly. Sam decided that she didn't care enough to try any more than that, and she gave up.

She skipped the shower and tried not to look at Paulina's body as she crammed herself into the first acceptable outfit she could get her hands on. Certainly, Paulina had seen better days, but Sam was angry now, and she wasn't about to waste any more time on Paulina's morning routine than she had already.

Pocketing Paulina's phone, Sam quietly made her way downstairs. There was the sound of someone eating in the kitchen, so Sam avoided it, despite the way her stomach rumbled. She couldn't afford to slip up. The house was about as nice as Sam had expected it to be. Hers was definitely more expensive, but Paulina's home had obviously cost a lot of money. It was oddly quiet. In Sam's house, there was almost always a TV or a radio on, to fill in the silence with white noise when no one was talking. In Paulina's house, Sam felt almost afraid to breathe.

It was a relief to step outside. The hum of car engines, the chatter of people on the street, and the wind and birds all seemed like such a relief after that big, empty house. Luckily, Sam recognized the street she was on. It wasn't far from the high school. Determined now, she started on her way. At least she was in Paulina's body. Danny would be paying attention to her whether she needed to talk to him or not.

And she really needed to talk to him about this.

* * *

"Sam!" Paulina looked up at the sound of "her name," and fought back a frown when she saw that it was Danny and Tucker approaching her. She had been planning how to approach her real friends for almost ten minutes now, but she knew that they would never believe her. It was too far-fetched. "I'm sorry about yesterday." Danny rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and smiled awkwardly at her. "I didn't mean to just leave you there like that, but I had to take care of Desiree. I didn't ruin the date, did I?"

Date?

Paulina bit back a smile. She always knew that Danny and Sam would get together — two losers like that were made for each other. "No, it's fine," she said in Sam's voice. "I know that… Desir-ee is important." She had no idea what a "desiree" was, but she wasn't here to stir up drama with Danny's relationships. It would be more fun to do that once she was back in her own body.

Immediately, Danny relaxed. It was obvious that he had been worried about this. "I'm really sorry." He took her hand, and Paulina had to resist the urge to pull back. "I wanted to text you, but I got home late, and my parents took away my phone and computer. At least they didn't take away the Fenton communicators." He said it like it was a joke, and Paulina managed a laugh just so that she didn't look completely lost. Communicators? Why would those matter?

Tucker, who had been scrolling through something on his PDA until that moment, suddenly looked up. "Here, Sam. I know that this is your area of expertise, but I've been looking into this." He showed her the screen, which was some blog post about tricking and catching genies. "We're going to need your help for it, though."

Danny nodded in agreement. "Desiree got away last night, but I think we can catch her once and for all like this. And after that, I can make up the date I had to skip out on." He gave her hand a squeeze. Paulina did her best to nod in the right places, hoping that it looked like she understood what they were saying. It was weird to hear these two losers talking about catching something — they could barely get a passing grade in gym, let alone fight anything.

" _Actually_ ," Paulina smiled faintly, and stepped closer to Danny, "I was wondering if I could have a moment alone with a certain _ghost boy_?" She put her hand on his chest, leaning her head on his shoulder. Danny hadn't said anything, but Paulina could tell that he had noticed her outfit and that he liked it. It was all in his subtle body language, and in the way his eyes kept flicking down over her dress as if it might turn back into a crop top and skirt while he wasn't looking.

"Oh." Danny blushed faintly and seemed unsure what to do before he carefully put an arm around her waist. "Well, if you want to, I—"

" _What do you think you're doing_?" Paulina stiffened at the sound of her own voice and turned her head to look at her own livid face. "Get your hands off of him!"

* * *

Of all the things Sam had expected to see when she walked into school, Paulina wrapping herself around Danny hadn't been one of them. She knew that Paulina wasn't very smart, but she wasn't a whore, either, and that made Sam just as worried as she was angry. Did Paulina know about Danny's ghost powers? Sam had tried to get here quickly, just to stop Danny and Tucker's typical conversation topics from keying Paulina into the obvious, but what if she hadn't been fast enough.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sam saw that Tucker had used his PDA to start recording, but she hardly cared.

Danny looked incredibly confused, and while Sam knew that making a scene while in Paulina's body wasn't a very smart move, she also wasn't going to just stand by while someone else made out with her boyfriend. She marched up to them and pushed the two apart. "Can I talk to you?" She narrowed her eyes at Paulina. It was so weird to glare at her own body. " _Alone_?"

She didn't wait for an answer. Leaving Danny and Tucker to gawk, Sam grabbed Paulina by the wrist, dragging her into the janitor's closet that was always used as a quick hiding spot. She shut the door behind them, practically fuming. "What do you think you were doing?" Sam hissed. "That's _my_ boyfriend. And you don't even like him!"

Paulina rolled her eyes. "Yes, but he thought that I was you, so I played along." She huffed. "I was about to get him to introduce me to the ghost boy. A few minutes more, and I wouldn't have been interested in _your boyfriend_ at all." She looked Sam up and down and grimaced. "I can see why it took you two so long to get together if _that's_ how you typically take care of yourself."

Sam clenched her jaw. " _Me_? Did you even look in a mirror before you applied twenty pounds of makeup? I stuck that dress in the back of my closet for a good reason, and—" Suddenly, she paused. Now that Paulina had mentioned outfits… She walked around Paulina slowly, her expression tight. "Okay, _maybe_ that color looks good on me," she admitted slowly, "but I still can't believe that you wasted time getting dolled up. You did realize that that's not your body, right?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I did," Paulina snorted. "It was hard not to — I woke up feeling less than _perfect_ for the first time in years." She sighed in dismay. "I thought that I might as well look good, though. Just in case I ran into the ghost boy…" Paulina smiled in a way that made Sam cringe, and she let out a fond sigh. "You know, I had the nicest dream last night… I wished that I was the ghost boy's girlfriend, and a kind ghost made it happen. But then…" her face twisted into a grimace of disgust, "I woke up as _that loser's_ girlfriend, instead. What a joke." She crossed her arms, pouting.

Realization struck, and Sam sucked in a breath. "You… you _wished_?" Danny and Tucker had come up with a list of three things that they should never say — "I wish," "at least it can't get any worse," and "what could go wrong?" Saying those things only ever led to a bad outcome. And if Paulina had _wished_ for something… Sam groaned. "I wish that you had never made that stupid wish!" She snapped back.

Paulina looked deeply offended by Sam's outburst. She started to say something, but whatever it was, it was cut off as blue smoke poured into the closet from the crack at the bottom of the door. It soon filled the room, and Sam closed her eyes shut in anticipation. _"So you have wished it, and so it shall be…"_

It felt like dying. One second, Sam had been standing there, and the next, it felt like her body was being ripped in half. She was pretty sure that she was screaming, but she no longer had the control to make it stop. There was a horrible, sinking feeling of nothingness, and then it abruptly switched again and she felt chilled to her _soul_. It all happened in under a few seconds, and yet, it had felt like it had taken hours.

Sam felt the cold, tile ground under her cheek, and groaned. Her body twitched without her sayso, and she was content to just lie there. Her feet didn't hurt anymore, her hair wasn't brushing her back, and there was a skirt covering her thighs instead of jeans. She didn't feel relieved to be in her own body again. Everything felt out of reach, and Sam could barely even get herself to move.

Still, she heard the sounds of fighting around them, and Danny's echoing voice, and she let herself relax. He was going to catch Desiree, and then maybe she could convince him to take her home for a day's rest. It was going to take years of therapy to wash away the experience of being _Paulina_.

"Hey." Sam opened her eyes at the prompting and blinked slowly at the girl lying on the floor across from her. In a messy, crumpled heap, Paulina looked a lot less like a she-demon, and more like a normal girl. Once she had gotten Sam's attention, Paulina managed a smile. "You're the ghost boy's girlfriend, aren't you?"

For some reason, Sam giggled. "Doesn't matter," she mumbled. "You should move on, though. Find a nice boy who's actually alive, and settle down with him, instead. Nothing's going to come of chasing after someone you can't have. Trust me."

Paulina only nodded, not saying anything as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Distantly, the sounds of fighting drew further and further away. Sam wasn't worried. She knew that Danny would win. And once she could feel her toes again, she was going to buy Paulina a pair of shoes that didn't cut off circulation to her feet.


	14. Day 14: Flowers

Danny never knew what to do during recess. He liked to see Jazz, but she was in the fourth-grader section of the playground, with the bigger and more complex play equipment. He had tried to go over and see her before, but it always ended with a teacher leading him back to where he was supposed to be, with the other second graders. So, for the fourth week in a row, Danny wandered around the schoolyard. He would have liked to play with Tucker, but neither of them knew very many games, and Tucker preferred to sit along the wall and play one of those weird card games with the other boys.

So, Danny thought that it was only rational to find other people to play with. He wasn't very good at meeting new people, but he thought that it only made sense to try and find someone else who was alone. The problem was, most of the kids already had people to play with. They were busy with tag or playing hopscotch, and some of the girls were passing a ball around in a circle. Danny felt out of place. Why wasn't anyone else alone? Maybe he should have stayed with Tucker.

He suddenly brightened. There was a girl he hadn't noticed before, though he wasn't sure how he missed her. She was sitting in the shade of a tree a little ways away from the asphalt playground, curled up around herself as though the rest of the world didn't matter. Mostly, what Danny noticed was her dress. It was bright pink and covered with little yellow flowers. Her blonde hair was up in pigtails, and as he got closer, Danny noticed that her earrings were flowers, too, matching with her dress. He was sure that he would recognize her if they were in the same class, so Danny assumed that she was in one of the other second grade classrooms in the school.

He looked around, and grabbed a fistful of dandelions, pulling them up. "Hi," he said as he sat next to her, and held out the flowers. "Why're you alone?"

She seemed surprised that he was talking to her, and she turned her head away, wiping her face off before turning back to Danny. She raised an eyebrow at the messy handful of flowers. "What're those for?" She mumbled.

Danny shrugged. "Dad's always givin' flowers to mom when she's sad. They matched your dress. And you looked sad." He took her hand and pressed the flowers into her palm. Even though they were a tangle of roots and dirt, and the girl had a perfectly pale and clean hand, she didn't seem to mind. "My name's Danny. D'you wanna play somethin'? You shouldn't be alone."

The girl clutched the flowers she had been given and managed a smile. "I'm Sam," she said with a sort of vindictiveness that made Danny think that she disliked her name. "I don't like flowers… Mom got me this dress, even though I told her that I don't want to wear pink…" Sam sighed, plucking up the grass with her hands.

"Well, what do you like?" Danny asked. If she didn't like flowers, then that was fine. He was pretty sure that he could find something on the playground that Sam would like.

Sam didn't reply at first, picking at the flowers now and letting the petals scatter in the breeze. "I like games," she said finally. "And… and the color purple. I like purple much more than pink." Her nose crinkled up in distaste.

That made Danny perk up some. "Oh, there's some purple chalk over there!" He pointed to where the sidewalk chalk was left sitting out. The kids who had been scribbling with it had moved on. "We can color your dress," Danny suggested, standing up. "I bet purple looks really nice." He smiled and held out his hand for her to take.

For a moment, Sam looked like she was going to refuse. But then she smiled determinedly and reached up, grabbing Danny's hand and pulling herself to her feet. "Let's do purple and black," she stated with a giggle.

Danny nodded, and the two eagerly made their way over to the abandoned chalk set. He wondered how she could move in that dress — it was huge and puffy and practically swallowed her up. They both grabbed the chalk, and Danny smeared purple onto her skirt while Sam rubbed the black all over her pretty, white ribbons.

He knew that making a mess of clothes was frowned upon, but Sam seemed very happy, and Danny was glad that he had gotten her to smile. Maybe next recess, he could get Tucker to come away from the wall, and they could all color like this again. As long as it kept Sam smiling, Danny would think up fun things for them to do together.

They switched colors, and Danny laughed as he rubbed the black chalk into Sam's hair. Instead of being mad, she took the pigtails out, letting her blonde hair hand just past her shoulders as Danny continued coloring. "You look good with black hair," he said when he finished.

It was more of a dirty grey, and there were still huge patches of blonde, but the statement made Sam smile. "Yeah," she agreed, running her hands through her dirty hair. "It's nice."

When the bell rang signaling the end of recess, their teacher had to pull Danny and Sam out of class and call their parents to bring a fresh change of clothes. Danny liked Sam's mom — she looked kind, and smelled like flowers. But when she saw Sam's dress, she screamed, and Danny couldn't figure out why. His mom brought his change of clothes with a good-natured smile, but Sam got a lecture and her mom looked furious.

The next day, Sam showed up with a white dress, a box of chalk, and a wicked grin. Again, she got in trouble after recess, but it only seemed to thrill her. Tucker got in on it too, and after a whole week of ruining dresses, Sam finally came to school in a pair of pants her mother had approved for her.

Danny didn't know it then, but that was the start of a very long friendship.


	15. Day 15: Girls

"Tucker, can I talk to you about something?" Danny sighed, looking at his best friend from across their lunch table.

Nodding, Tucker swallowed the bite of meatloaf he had had before speaking. "Sure, man," he replied. "Is something bugging you?"

Danny looked to his side, where Sam usually sat. Today, however, she was gone. "You could say that," he said after a moment. "Tucker, do you have any advice about… girls?" There was probably someone more qualified to ask, but all Danny had to go off of was his dad or Tucker. And Danny was positive that whatever advice his dad gave was going to fail.

 _That_ made Tucker set his fork down. He frowned. "Depends," Tucker settled on. "What girl? Because, I don't know if you've noticed, dude, but your fan club gains an average of 9.6 girls a day," he pointed out.

At the reminder, Danny grimaced. "Yeah, don't remind me…" He tried not to look around the cafeteria. A Danny Phantom fan club had been set up in the high school about a month ago, and girls from all over town were joining at a mind-boggling rate. He would never use his superhero persona to date any of them, but just glancing around the cafeteria at all of the shirts with his face or symbol plastered on it like a badge of honor was enough to send shivers down his spine. The only person who hated it more than him was Valerie. Speaking of which…

"I want advice about Valerie," Danny admitted. They had been growing closer lately, but despite how he tried to bond with her whenever they ran into each other while ghost hunting, Valerie stubbornly refused to acknowledge Phantom as anything other than an enemy. "I like hanging out with her, but the more popular Phantom gets, the more she seems to hate him. And she talks about it. A lot." He tried not to shiver at the memory of some of the awful things Valerie said she would do if she ever got her hands on Phantom. "I think… well, I think it's time that I finally tell her the truth."

He had tried to run this idea by Sam, but she had been adamantly against it. She had practically been foaming at the mouth by the time she stormed off, and she hadn't spoken to Danny nor Tucker since. He had no idea _why_ , but Sam and Valerie absolutely hated each other. The more time Danny and Valerie spent together, the more Sam seemed to dislike her. She didn't want Danny to reveal his secret to someone who was actively hunting him, but Danny didn't want advice from an overbearing but well-meaning friend. He wanted someone to help him look at this logically, and neutrally. Tucker cared about Danny's safety, but unlike Sam, he wouldn't be aggressive about it.

"Valerie." Tucker sighed. "Look, dude, you know I trust you and whatever choices you want to make. They're your powers and all. If you can look me in the eye and say that you're one-hundred percent _positive_ that she won't try to disembowel you, then I support you," he explained.

Danny smiled. "Yeah, I… you know, I really do think that it's safe. You and Sam don't know her like I do. She cares about Fenton way more than she wants to waste Phantom." And he believed that. Valerie would never want to hurt him, not even in the name of catching Danny Phantom.

Going back to eating his lunch, Tucker hummed. "Alright, so, here's what I'm thinking." He smirked. "You know what all girls like?" He asked.

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Danny only arched an eyebrow. "Being treated like they're all the same and having generalizations made about them?"

"What?" Tucker grimaced in distaste. "No, they all hate that. But they all love a guy who's not scared of being vulnerable. I'm thinking that after you tell her, she'll need some time to adjust to the idea. But after that, she'll finally be ready to take your relationship to the next level. This is your chance to score with her, dude!"

Opening his mouth to deny what Tucker had said, Danny abruptly snapped his jaw shut again. What was he going to say? That he _didn't_ like Valerie like that? He had always thought that she was good-looking, but growing closer to her made those feelings harder and harder to ignore. "I'm not going to ask her out, Tuck." Danny shook his head. "I don't think she would be interested once she knows that I'm half-ghost, anyway. I'll consider her not hating me to be a win."

Tucker sighed but didn't object. "Whatever, dude." He took a bite of his meatloaf. "It's your love life. Or lack thereof. Your call, man."

It wasn't quite the heart-to-heart Danny had been hoping for, but it had helped. He stood up. "Thanks, Tucker." Danny nodded. "I need to go find Valerie before lunch ends. I'll see you in math." He waved to Tucker as he walked away, turning on his heel to rush out of the cafeteria. He knew that Valerie had taken to eating outside recently. She said that it was for the fresh air and nice weather, but Danny knew perfectly well that it was to watch the sky for any sign of a ghost.

He headed towards the back of the school, where the exit would let out onto the football field, and the open bleachers where students were allowed to enjoy lunch. He pushed the door open, but to his surprise, he didn't have to look far to spot Valerie.

"Hey!" He ran up to her, and Valerie paused whatever was playing on her phone before she turned to look at Danny. "Valerie, I was looking for you." He smiled nervously. "Can we, um… go somewhere to talk privately? There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

She looked surprised and almost embarrassed, but quickly nodded. "Of course," Valerie replied. "I was just watching this clip from last night's news." Her flustered expression quickly turned to one of annoyance. "Did you know that the mayor is thinking about making a statue of Phantom? It's as if the entire town has forgotten about all of the scummy things he's done!"

The news surprised Danny. He hadn't heard anything about a statue. "Really?" He tried not to sound too excited.

Valerie nodded, an angry frown on her face. "Yeah, I know, right? It's ridiculous. I hope they ask Phantom to go to town hall and pose for it — it would be the perfect set up for me to finally corner and capture that intangible pain in the ass once and for all!" She clenched her fist, and then relaxed, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder. "I'm glad you're so understanding about this," she said softly. "Everyone else in this school acts like they're brainwashed. I really appreciate our friendship, Danny." Valerie leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, letting her touch linger before she pulled away. "So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked.

Danny wasn't sure what to say. He stared blankly at her and opened his mouth. Nothing came out, and he quickly snapped his jaw shut again. "I…" he tried, only to trail off. What as he supposed to say? He had been so sure about coming clean just a few minutes ago, but Danny was starting to second-guess himself. "I wanted to… to tell you that—"

"Save it," a different voice cut in, and Danny turned his head, surprised to see Sam standing next to them. When had she arrived? She glared daggers at Valerie. "Danny, you need to stop wasting your time on this and tell her what you _really_ think."

Glancing between the two of them, Valerie raised an eyebrow. "What you really think?" She repeated. "Danny, what's she talking about?" Valerie demanded.

Sam smirked, but she looked far from entertained. "The fact that he _loves_ Phantom." She stated. Danny stiffened, and almost shrank back. He thought about interrupting, but the words wouldn't come to him. What would it matter, anyway? Pretending to hate himself this entire time was just eating him up and Valerie deserved to know the truth. Valerie looked stunned by the news, but Sam kept talking and cut off every attempt from the other girl to speak up. "I guess he was just too scared to tell you and lose your friendship, but it's the truth. The three of us watch the news coverage on Phantom's latest act of heroism, and we check up on the site that shows his approval ratings going up weekly. Danny and his sister have a scrapbook of all the amazing things Phantom has done, and I _promise_ that they outweigh the bad things by more than you could possibly wrap your mind around." Sam stepped between Danny and Valerie then, and jabbed the other girl in the chest, forcing her to take a step back. "Did you ever think to ask Danny what _he_ thought, or did you brush aside anything he tried to say and keep on talking? He's put up with this for long enough, and I'm not going to keep sitting on the sidelines while he gets himself stuck in a relationship that's only going to hurt him."

For a second, Danny thought that Sam was going to punch Valerie. But then she abruptly turned, and grabbed Danny by the wrist, dragging him off in the other direction. She shoved open the doors to the school, leading him back inside.

It took Danny a minute to remember his autonomy, but when he did, he abruptly stopped. His hand slipped from Sam's hold, and she turned to look at him. Neither of them said anything. Sam still looked angry, but the longer they were away from Valerie, the more she seemed to relax. Finally, Danny found his voice. "What was that for?" He asked quietly.

Letting out a sigh, Sam leaned against the bank of lockers and looked away from Danny. "Tucker texted me to let me know what you were going to do," Sam admitted after a moment. "I… I don't know. It's your choice to tell her, I know that, but I couldn't just… it just didn't sit right. She _hates_ you. I know you like to think that it really doesn't run that deep, but you're looking at her through rose-colored glasses, Danny. She absolutely loathes Phantom. You know that, even if you don't want to admit it."

Danny closed his eyes. A part of him knew that she was right. He had always been so bad at making friends, and he had clung to the idea of him and Valerie being something _more_. And why wouldn't he? She was beautiful, funny, smart, hardworking, and fiercely passionate about what she believed in. Maybe too fierce. He was going to have to try harder to warm her up to the idea of Danny Phantom. She might never accept him if he didn't explain himself as a ghost, first.

So, for now, Danny would keep his secret.

He nodded and opened his eyes in time to see the tension in Sam's body relax. He was struck with the sudden realization about how nervous she had been. And for good reason. Most people didn't take kindly to their friends trying to run their lives. But Danny knew that she only had his best interests in mind, and he couldn't be mad at Sam for something like that.

"Maybe you're right," Danny sighed. "I do want to eventually tell Valerie, but for now, I think some space would be nice — from my human form, and my ghost form." He laughed, and Sam managed a smile back. "And Tucker was even talking about me asking her out. How ridiculous is that, right?" He joked.

Sam's smile fell, and she sighed, though she sounded almost affectionate. "Danny, you're clueless," she told him fondly.


	16. Day 16: Gift

"Look, I'm telling you, there's _no way_ that Terminatra would lose to Skulker," Danny argued. "He could kick Femalien's butt, but I've actually fought Terminatra, and I'm telling you, she would win easily, hands down."

Tucker rolled his eyes. " _Please_. You're just playing favorites. Nightmerica is the brains, and it doesn't take more than a little bit of critical thinking to figure out a way to take Skulker down. She could do it in two minutes, tops," he shot back.

Before Danny could argue, Sam sighed, interrupting their heated debate. "Don't we have more important things to do than fight about what fictional characters could defeat our real-life enemies? We could be going over our math homework, or talking about that lesson you missed in English to go fight ghosts, Danny." She put her hands on her hips, glaring at both of them.

Danny and Tucker shared a look.

"Do you think all three of them could beat the Ghost King?" Danny asked, turning back to Tucker.

"No way!" He shook his head vehemently at the thought. "I don't think anything short of a supernova could stop that guy. Wait, would a supernova even affect him? He's already dead, isn't he?"

"Oh, would you look at that!" Sam interrupted. "We're here." She gestured at the front door, and Danny realized that they had arrived back at his home without him even noticing that it had happened. "Here, let's just head instead before you do anything else to ruin the entire point of a "secret identity." I swear…" she grumbled under her breath, pushing open the front door and heading inside.

Offering a shrug, Tucker followed her, with Danny bringing up the rear. He stepped into the dark living room and winced as the lights were suddenly flicked on. "Surprise!"

Danny dropped into a fighting position automatically, feeling the familiar tug of his ghost powers. Before his transformation could wash over him though, Danny realized what was happening. He did his best to cover up his slip, smiling nervously. Luckily, his parents hadn't seemed to notice.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," Maddie said, walking up to Danny and giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I know you said that you didn't want a party, but it's not every day that you turn fifteen!" She gestured to the party that had been set up. Even though Danny hadn't wanted to make a big deal out of his birthday, the little party that his parents had put together was nice. There were some balloons set up with the number "15" on them, a few streamers, and a cake next to a small pile of presents.

"Valerie?" Danny was caught off guard, surprised to see her standing next to Jazz. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled faintly. "Sam and Tucker invited me." There was something in her tone that Danny couldn't place, and when he looked over at Sam, she wouldn't meet his gaze. Tucker only shrugged and gave a faint smile. "That's not a problem, is it?" Valerie asked.

Danny shook his head. "No, of course not. It just— it caught me off guard, that's all." He was going to have to ask Sam about this later. She couldn't stand Valerie.

"Why don't we do the cake first?" Maddie suggested. "I know you probably want to hang out with your friends on your birthday, Danny, but as a mom, I get a few minutes with my boy." She smiled almost sadly.

He figured that it must be hard to watch your kids grow up. Jazz was seventeen, but already starting college at Yale after the summer was over, having graduated early. He knew that he could never get into a college that nice, but Danny was leaving relatively soon, too. Just two more years of high school.

He wanted to tell his mom that it wouldn't change anything — that he would always be her son, and he would always love his mom — but the words seemed stuck in his throat. It wasn't the right time. Not here. Not at that moment.

Even though he hadn't wanted a party in the first place, Danny let himself be absorbed in the party. It was… nice. Almost too nice. Danny had never seen Sam and Valerie in the same room together for so long without yelling, but it looked like they were both making a serious effort for him. Sometimes, it was easy for Danny to forget how much he appreciated his friends.

It was sort of bizarre to watch Valerie and his dad hit it off, but then again, he had finally found someone besides Maddie who was as obsessed with ghosts as he was. Valerie didn't care about ghosts for any sort of scientific reason, but she absorbed everything Jack told her like a sponge.

"Okay, okay, _hold on_ —" A few hours later, and Danny was struggling not to laugh. Valerie and Tucker had started wrestling, and it hadn't taken her long at all to get him pinned under her foot. The best part was their expressions — Tucker looked like he couldn't figure out how he had gotten on the floor, and Valerie looked beyond smug. "Just hold him like that, Val, I'm gonna go grab my camera!" He hurried up the stairs, leaving the laughter of his family and friends behind him.

Danny pushed up his bedroom door, and all thoughts of his camera left his head. He stared blankly at Vlad for a moment, who was sitting on Danny's bed without a care in the world. His first instinct was to fight, but usually, when Vlad wanted to fight, he showed up already in his ghost form. This was… different. He put his hand on his doorknob, and slowly, Danny shut it behind him. He didn't take his eyes off of Vlad, and the door closed with a soft click, the sound of laughter downstairs practically muted.

"My, how impressive," Vlad smirked, amused. "You looked at me without letting your anger get the better of you — what restraint you have, Daniel."

Growling in frustration, Danny pushed some of his power out, letting his eyes flash a warning shade of green. "Don't think it'll last long if you don't tell me what you're doing here, Plasmius. If we got in a fight, I have five people downstairs who would back me up, and you're just as alone as you always have been," he shot back.

Vlad narrowed his eyes a little, but to Danny's surprise, didn't try to escalate their argument any further. "Three of those five will be just as quick to turn their weapons on you, Daniel. You would do well to remember that." He stood up, and in his hands, there was a small, wrapped package. It had been hidden behind Vlad's leg until he stood, but now Danny's gaze zeroed in on it in less than a second. "A gift," Vlad said smoothly, walking over to Danny and placing it in his hands. "No strings attached, and free of charge. I know you would never thank me, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to provide a gift for your birthday."

Frowning, Danny turned the present over in his hands a few times. He was trying to guess what was inside of it. "Vlad, I—" He looked up, and abruptly stopped talking. Of course, Vlad was already gone. He probably didn't want to get caught in the explosion that would go off when Danny opened this gift…

He sighed. This was an awful idea. Regardless, he sat down on the edge of his bed and tore the wrapping paper off smoothly. It was a solid shade of green, and Danny was annoyed to see that it matched the shade of his eyes. Vlad had to actively _try_ to be this creepy.

Under the wrapping paper, there was a smooth, white box, with no labels or words on it at all. Danny opened it, and closed his eyes, turning intangible on reflex. However, nothing happened. He opened one eye, and then relaxed, suddenly feeling ridiculous. If Vlad was going to attack him, he wouldn't do it when there was a chance that Maddie would get caught in the crossfire.

Danny tossed the lid over his shoulder and stared down in surprise at the contents of the box. The actual contents of the package were covered with a thin layer of one-hundred dollar bills. With a grimace, Danny swept them up into his hand. The total was $1,000, and if Jazz wasn't going to college soon, Danny would have chucked the stack into the trash. Even on a full scholarship, Danny had no doubt that his sister was going to need all of the money she could get to live away from home for the first time.

The real present was a photo. It was lying face-down in the box, so Danny had to dump it out into his hand to see it. Despite himself, when he saw the gift, Danny smiled. He couldn't deny that it was creepy, but it was still a sweet moment to have caught on camera. It was of Danny and Maddie, on his first day of middle school. She had swooped in to kiss him on the forehead at the last second, and Jack had managed to take the photo just before Danny pushed his mom away, and his expression looked serene and calm. It made his chest ache. How Vlad got his hands on the photo, Danny would never know. They had lost it long before he got ghost powers, let alone met Vlad.

He set it down on his nightstand and stepped back to look at it for a moment. Even if it was from Vlad, it was sweet. Danny took one last moment to appreciate it, and then turned and headed back downstairs.


	17. Day 17: Royalty

Danny frowned, turning the Infi-Map over in his hands a few times before setting it correctly again. "Okay. This isn't working." He rolled the map up, tucking it against his hip for safekeeping. The map, as helpful as it was, wasn't very specific. It had a lot of the general, big places in the Ghost Zone on it, but for a pocket dimension, the huge place was too big to fit onto one travel-sized map. He had tried to edit it, maybe just write notes about what was where, but the map didn't maintain any changes. He could scribble on it for hours, but as soon as he rolled it back up, his changes would be gone once he unrolled it.

From the safety of the Specter Speeder, Tucker sighed. "Dude, maybe we should call it a day and head home. That thing can still get us back to the portal, right?"

Still frowning, Danny floated over to them, a frown on his face. "I think we'd better not." He looked around. "I don't think it could take the Specter Speeder with it very well, and I don't want to test it. That was expensive, you know." He put his gloved hands over the glance, and Sam took the hint and grabbed the controls. Backing it up was a tedious process, but she was practiced in this by now, and make quick work of turning around.

"I think we're safe for now," Danny remarked, floating along outside of the Speeder with energy crackling over his hands. He was ready to shoot at any moment and for good reason. The Ghost Zone wasn't a very friendly area. "Let's just make the ride back quick." He grabbed the outside of the Speeder, holding onto it and lowering himself so that his knees were resting on the roof.

"I thought you'd never ask," Sam replied as she pressed on the gas. "I like death as much as the next goth, but this place makes the floral cozies my mom knits seem like welcome decor."

They sped along through the ghost zone, keeping clear of most of the islands. It didn't take long to figure out that ghosts liked their space. Typically, so long as Danny gave strangers a wide berth, and didn't agitate any of his enemies, they were left alone.

He shuddered as his ghost sense went off, and automatically used his other hand to tap the glass over the Speeder. Sam slowed down for him, and the three of them started to look around. In the Ghost Zone, his sense went off almost all the time, but it was a good rule of thumb to know where the enemies were so that he could avoid them.

He narrowed his eyes as he spotted them — two ghosts were talking to each other and seemed completely non-threatening. Unlike the sometimes bizarre forms that the ghosts he fought could have, these two looked normal for ghosts. They were definitely more humanoid and didn't have any visible weapons. Danny relaxed. He was about to signal for Sam to start the Speeder again, but as soon as he turned his head, something shot out of his peripheral vision.

Danny jerked back just in time for an ectoblast to sail right by where his head was. The two ghosts from before were laughing now, and one of them was aiming his still-smoking finger in Danny's direction.

Annoyed, Danny grabbed the Infi-Map and phased his hand through the glass windshield of the Speeder. He dropped it onto Tucker's lap to keep it out of the fight and stood up. He didn't _need_ to fight these two ghosts, but he didn't doubt that running off would only encourage them to attack other ghosts, and possibly try something like this again the next time Danny came back. It was better to deal with the problem now.

He shot his own ectoblast back, and it went right between the two ghosts. He smirked as their shock turned into matching glares. Being a hero wasn't just about fighting, but Danny would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy it. And a few easy targets every now and then were always a relief. It was nice to just punch someone, have them stay down, and have the added bonus of getting your frustration out.

"Two against one?" Danny asked sarcastically as he flew closer and stopped near them. "That doesn't seem fair."

Obviously, the two didn't appreciate his clever quips. The one that was obviously in charge snarled at him. "Oh, what do you know, you—?" His fist glowed with ecto-energy, but he stopped when his friend tapped him on the shoulder. "What is it?" He muttered impatiently, not taking his eyes off of Danny. Whatever he had been told, it certainly had an effect. The ghost paled (well, more than he already was), and lowered his fist. Before Danny could make a joke about the sudden change in heart, the ghosts got to their knees and bowed deeply.

The intercom in Danny's ear, silent until that point, crackled to life. " _Uh, are we seeing this correctly?"_ Sam asked, watching from about a hundred feet back. " _You didn't even touch them. Why are they bowing?"_

Danny could only shrug. He had no idea. He couldn't even think up a good joke for this. "Uh…" he floated a little closer to the two ghosts, "you guys can get up at any time. And when you do, could you tell me _why_ you're bowing?"

The two shared a look, and then the ghost in charge stood up, followed by his lackey. "Our deepest apologies." He spoke solemnly and kept his head down as he approached Danny. "We didn't mean to upset you, Your Majesty, we just— we didn't recognize you in the… evening light. We meant no disrespect." And then, to Danny's complete and utter bewilderment, he took Danny's hand gently and pressed a kiss to the gloved appendage.

Immediately, as though he had been burned, Danny jumped back. He clutched his hand over his chest, his face no doubt turning an impressive shade of neon green. "I'm— what? What did— why would you—?" He snapped his jaw shut and took a deep breath. It didn't help anything physically, but mentally, Danny found that the practice helped him calm down. "Why did you do that?" His voice came out much calmer than he actually felt, and Danny let himself be the tiniest bit proud.

Again, the two ghosts shared a look. And again, the leader was the one who spoke. "You're the halfa who defeated Pariah Dark," the ghost remarked simply. "That makes you the new king. His Highness, King of All Ghosts." They both moved to bow again but stopped when Danny held up a hand.

"Okay, wait," he pinched the base of his brow. "You're telling me that I'm the king. King of the Ghost Zone. The _entire dimension_."

If the ghost thought that Danny was being stupid, he did a very good job of not letting it show. "Kind of," he said slowly. "There's no form of government here in the Ghost Zone. Everyone more or less does what they want. The King is mostly an honorary title unless you feel like conquering every stray rock in this dimension. But," he was quick to add, "to have defeated Pariah Dark… No ordinary ghosts could have done that. You have the respect and fear of most of the ghosts here — us included, of course, Your Highness." He started to bow again, but Danny couldn't take any more of that.

Without another word, he floated back to the Specter Speeder. He phased through the glass and sat between Sam and Tucker. His transformation came almost like a relief, and Danny could only stare straight ahead as he thought over what he had just been told. He was the king of the Ghost Zone. Ghosts respected him. They _feared_ him. He felt dizzy.

"Uh…" Tucker waved a hand in front of his face, but Danny didn't so much as blink. "Dude, are you alright?"

It took a moment, but Danny nodded. "Yeah," he said faintly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just… head back now. I'll let you guys know if I sense any other ghosts."

The two of them shared a look over Danny's head. Tucker shrugged, and Sam sighed. "What happened?" She put a hand on Danny's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze.

"I'll let you know once I figure it out," Danny replied vaguely. He brushed Sam's hand off, and sighed, closing his eyes. "For now, let's just… head back."

Neither of his friends were convinced, but thankfully, they didn't push Danny anymore. Sam started up the engine again, and Danny tried to relax as they left the Ghost Zone. It was just so ridiculous, though. Danny Fenton, as royalty? It was just so absurd...


	18. Day 18: Revive

Everything felt like a blur, but that was probably because it was. Danny opened his eyes a few times, but every time he did, the scenery was different. There was Sam and Tucker hunched over him, shouting, and he was pretty sure that Sam was crying. Someone picked him up, and the next time Danny managed to get his eyes open, there was strangers above him, and he was somewhere that was cramped and white. _An ambulance_ , his mind helpfully supplied, and Danny trusted that to be true and passed out again.

There was the distinctive chatter of the hospital, but Danny didn't want to open his eyes. Why wouldn't they just be quiet? Doctors circled through his room as though on a carousel, saying things like, "it's impossible," or "your son is a miracle."

It didn't feel like a miracle.

It felt a little like someone had shoved cotton in his head and beat him with a bat for a few hours. It ached to move, and Danny couldn't see very clearly. His vision was fuzzy whenever he managed to keep his eyes open, and it gave him a headache to even _try_ thinking.

He wasn't sure how long he stayed in the hospital. The doctors could treat his symptoms, sure, but he was still a mystery. All of the evidence said that Danny should be dead. How he was still alive at all was unfathomable. The doctors didn't know, and Danny sure as hell didn't either. He could barely remember what had happened in the first place, and thinking for too long about it made his body ache.

Still, there was progress. Danny recovered from the Accident at a remarkably fast pace. Physical therapy had only taken a few days for Danny to get back to normal, and his trainer had been amazed. For an electrical injury of such an extreme magnitude, he should have taken months, not _days_.

He kept quiet about it, but in truth, Danny wasn't the least bit concerned about how far he could walk in ten seconds, or how hard he could throw a ball. He was busy trying to manage something else.

"This is ridiculous," he hissed under his breath at Sam and Tucker. Technically, visiting hours were over, but Danny had been moved to the first floor after his intensive care was over. His window was wide open for his friends to crawl through, but Danny didn't see the point. "You're trying to force something that isn't possible."

Sam looked worried and tired, but she still managed to roll her eyes anyway. "We saw it, Danny," she insisted. "I know it sounds impossible, but I'm telling you. When you came out of that portal, you had white hair and green eyes. You changed back to normal after you passed out, but I'm telling you, that's not normal. I think you can still do that." She was doing her best to explain, but Danny still wasn't completely sold. And, truthfully, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be.

"I don't know, Sam," Tucker spoke up. "I could have been a trick of the light. I mean, it's easy to see how you could look at Danny and see white hair, green eyes, a black jumpsuit… yeah…" He sighed.

Danny groaned, rubbing little circles against his temples. "I don't know what you guys want me to say," he said impatiently. "I don't remember anything until the paramedics picked me up, and if I had white hair and green eyes, I think my parents would have told me." Wouldn't they? He swallowed the nagging doubt in the back of his mind. Even if that ghost portal was their pride and joy, they would never let their son suffer over it.

"Just try, Danny. Please," Sam pleaded. "Look, just… close your eyes. Concentrate on that energy that's there. I know you can feel it. If it wasn't there, you wouldn't already be up and walking after suffering a shock that was supposed to kill you."

Even though the idea being presented was absurd, Danny couldn't argue everything. It didn't make sense. Sam and Tucker certainly hadn't pulled him from that portal, and neither had his parents, so he must have walked out of it once it was already on. And he shouldn't still be alive, let alone walking around and moving normally. His mom had explained the portal startup — it would first set off a high-voltage electrical charge to burn up any foreign objects in the portal, and then the actual power-up sequences for the ghost portal itself would kick on at the same time. Which meant that Danny had survived a shock that should have completely blackened him.

He sighed. "Alright, Sam. Here, I'll humor you." He let his eyes close, and took a deep breath. It was an odd command. Feel for energy. Energy… It felt ridiculous to even attempt this, but then again, Danny supposed that all Sam and Tucker saw was him standing there with his eyes closed. He had certainly been in more embarrassing situations before.

Danny felt… something. It was odd, and hard to describe. There was an energy in his chest, and the more he concentrated on it, the more intense it grew. It started from a purr, and quickly grew to a car motor. He wasn't sure if this was a smart idea, but something about the feeling made his fear subside. It felt familiar, and comforting, almost like it was a part of him. It was far easier than it should have been to give that feeling a hard yank and submerge himself in it.

There was a bright light from the other side of his closed eyelids, and Sam and Tucker gasped at the same time. Danny opened his eyes, only to quickly squeeze them shut again as energy raced up his skin. It left his nerves tingling from the weird sensation, and Danny shivered as the feeling left his entire body feeling energized.

"Uh, dude?" Tucker sounded worried as he spoke up after a long moment of silence. "Are you aware that you're floating?"

Immediately, Danny's eyes snapped open. To his surprise, Tucker was right. He was floating about six inches off of the ground, and quickly beginning to turn. He caught himself before he could tumble to the side, but it was confusing. His body felt weightless, and yet, Danny could push and pull his center of gravity to keep him upright or sideways, something that shouldn't have been physically possible.

Then again, floating wasn't supposed to be possible, either.

"Woah," Danny muttered, and if his voice sounded echoing and kind of faraway, he decided to ignore it. "Guys, are you seeing this? I'm floating! I'm floating?" He looked down at his hands, turning them over to look at his palms and the back of his hands. It was bizarre, but the white gloves he was wearing were not only unfamiliar, but also _glowing_. Actually, it felt more like his entire body was glowing. "Are you two seeing this?" He turned to Sam and Tucker, who only nodded. Danny wished that there was a mirror in his hospital room. If there was, he already knew what he would see — snow white hair, and glowing green eyes.

"You were legally dead for five minutes," Sam spoke up, watching Danny do careful circles in the air as he got used to floating. "I guess… I— I don't know what I guess. I think the portal… saved you."

Just as he went to reply, Danny paused. There was another flash of light, and just as easily as he had grabbed it, the energy in his chest slipped away. He tried to hold it, but it was like grasping at sand.

Gravity quickly took over, and Danny grunted in pain as he hit the ground. It wasn't a long fall, but he knew that it was going to leave a bruise for a few days, nonetheless.

"What was that?" He asked, looking up at the spot where he was just floating. Tucker and Sam looked just as bewildered as he did. "I'm not dreaming, am I? This isn't some kind of amazingly well-planned and cruel practical joke?" Danny wasn't sure what to do. He didn't even understand how he felt in the first place. Was this good? He had ghost powers. _Ghost powers_. And with parents like his, Danny shuddered to think at what that could mean.

"Don't worry, Danny. You're perfectly awake." Tucker put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "For now, you should get back into bed, dude. We can worry more about whatever that was when me and Sam aren't at risk of being thrown out of here."

Danny mustered up a smile. "Yeah, you're right, Tucker." He walked over to the hospital bed, and sat down. He didn't feel the least bit tired. "I just hope that whatever this is, it's either temporary or reversible," he admitted. "I'm enough of a freak as it is. _Ghost powers_ aren't going to help anything."


	19. Day 19: Phandom

"You're going to get mauled if you go in there," Sam huffed from where she was leaning against a bank of lockers. "Seriously, Danny. Of all of your bad ideas, this has got to be the worst. Walking into a group of crazed fans is just suicidal."

She had been against the idea from the second Danny suggested it, but as far as he and Tucker were concerned, it would be hilarious. "Oh, c'mon, Sam." Danny waved his hand dismissively. "It'll be hilarious. What if one of them faints? I mean, I would catch her, but still." The school hallways were deserted. It was after school on a Friday, and while that usually meant that Danny would be hurrying home, he was making an exception.

How could he resist? It was the first meeting of the Official Casper High Danny Phantom "Phanclub" and Danny wanted to be there. A month ago, he couldn't imagine having his own fan club, but now that he did, he didn't see anything wrong with freaking them out a little. It was _his_ fan club, after all.

Double checking to make sure that no one was coming, Danny quickly changed into his much more well-known form. In the past month, Danny Phantom's popularity had skyrocketed. He was considered an urban legend on the internet, but Amity Park still plastered his face on billboards, and people came from the other side of the country to get a look at the paranormal activity running rampant in the town. And, also, to try and catch a glimpse of him. Danny had checked out his "official" fan page before, and it was mostly blurry photos and a lot of over exaggerations. He had never taken on ten ghosts with only his foot or flown at the speed of light.

Tucker snickered and raised his hand for a high five, which Danny happily returned. "This is going to be amazing," he stated. "I just wish that I could be an invisible fly on the wall, too. You're lucky, dude."

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, lucky enough to have a fan club that you're about to mock," she snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not mocking them," Danny sighed. "I'm doing them a favor! I bet any of them would love to meet Danny Phantom. And if I get a few laughs out of some of their reactions, then, you know," he shrugged, as if to say, " _what are you going to do_?"

Before Sam could try and convince him not to, Danny turned intangible, sinking through the door to enter the classroom where his fan club would be meeting. He looked around, taking in the decor. It was a temporary set up since the room had to be cleaned out for class after the weekend, but Danny liked it. They had moved the desks off to the side of the room, and everyone had a pillow that they were sitting on, in a circle on the floor. At the front of the room, there were two posters of Danny set up on artists easels. They were paintings, not pictures, but no less impressive. They made Danny look a bit older than he actually was, but after studying them for a minute, he decided that he liked them. That issue covered, he turned his attention to the actual meeting.

"To start off the first meeting of the Official Casper High Danny Phantom "Phanclub," I want to give the floor to one of our members, Star," the apparent president of the club said. Danny didn't recognize her, and he hadn't managed to grab her name.

Actually, there were quite a few people in the club that he recognized. Paulina was there, which wasn't surprising. A lot of the A-list was, actually. Dash and Kwan, too, as well as Star. She stepped up to the front of the room, a box clasped in her hands. Danny doubted that she actually cared that much about him. It seemed more likely that she was only there because Paulina had asked her to be.

She opened the box she had with her, setting the container aside. "This," she held up the object for the rest of the club to see, earning murmurs and sounds of surprise from the other members, "is an Ouija board. With it, we can communicate with the dead. Even those who protect the town, like Phantom." Star walked back towards the center of the room, setting the board down in the middle of their circle of cushions.

The club all moved to sit around it, and with (Danny quickly counted in his head) twenty-three members, that was quite the accomplishment. The board wasn't very big, and the effect it was left with was pretty entertaining, in Danny's professional opinion. All of that, for a piece of junk that wouldn't work. Unless… Danny grinned.

"Oh, spirits," the club president started off once they were all in position, " we mortals most humbly and respectfully call upon you. Are there any spirits with us?" They were making it almost too easy.

Danny reached down, adding his hand to those already on the planchette. He kept himself intangible, but it was simple to exert a little bit of force and nudge objects in the right direction. It was how he kept himself from sinking through the floor as soon as he went intangible. The group held their breaths as the planchette slid inch by inch across the board, finally stopping over the word, "yes."

"Oh my God," Star whispered. She looked amazed, like she hadn't actually expected this to work.

The entire group started whispering, and more than half of them looked freaked out, but they were quickly quieted with a harsh glare from the club president. "Spirit," she said, voice unsteady, "tell us, what is your name?"

Danny wished that he had given himself a shorter name. It didn't take a lot of energy to move the planchette from P to H, but it was a tedious process. Still, he found it funny the way everyone was holding their breaths over the board. Their mouths moved silently as they mouthed out every letter, and even though they all knew what was coming, there was a sharp intake of breath from the group when Danny stopped over the letter M.

And then he let his invisibility drop away.

About half of the people in the room screamed, and the rest looked like they were about to faint. Danny hovered in the air above their heads, a grin on his face. "What a rip-off, right?" He joked. "These boards never work. Unless you're trying to talk to _me_. But you don't really need a board to do that." He knew that this was the closest most of these people had ever been to him, and even though he would be laughing at this moment for the rest of his life, he still lowered himself to the ground.

Immediately, there were arms wrapped around him. Danny's first instinct was to attack, but then he realized that he was being hugged, not strangled. He relaxed, turning his head to look over at Paulina. A year ago, he might have fainted if she touched him, but now, he felt oddly calm about it. "Oh, hi. Paulina, isn't it?" He asked.

She muffled a squeal with her hand and pulled back. "You remember me?" Paulina looked like she was going to pass out. Actually, she had to sit down. After a moment, Star joined her, rubbing Paulina's back gently and whispering something to her that looked to be helping.

Danny decided to leave them to it.

"I, uh," he cleared his throat, suddenly feeling awkward with so many people staring at him, "I heard that today was the first meeting of my official fan club, and I couldn't resist checking it out," he explained, looking around. "That, uh… that isn't a problem, is it?"

There was a moment where no one said anything, and then suddenly, Dash Baxter was standing right in front of him. "Danny Phantom! Sweet!" He pointed to Kwan. "Tell 'em about that time when we got shrunk together! None of my friends believe me."

Danny was tempted to deny that, just for a sweet moment of revenge. It would serve Dash right, after all the bullying around school that he was responsible for. But then he sighed. Stooping down to Dash's level wasn't going to bring long-term satisfaction. "Yeah," Danny said, "that happened. You were, uh, really helpful, actually. Thanks, Dash."

Denying it wouldn't make him any better than Dash — especially after he had spent an entire month convincing the entire school that Danny Fenton had in no way helped stop the ghosts who were kidnapping their parents almost a year ago. Any popularity that Danny might have gotten from that was swiftly crushed, thanks to Dash. And as much as he would love to return the favor, Danny didn't want to become someone that petty.

"Ha!" Dash turned to Kwan, grinning. "I told you so! I spent a whole day with Phantom!" He stated proudly.

Fighting back a smile, Danny let them bicker. His attention was dragged away by a tug on his outfit, and he turned to see the club president. Her face was a deep shade of red, and she was obviously nervous. Nonetheless, she held up a camera. "Um, I was just wondering… do ghosts like to pose for photos?"

An hour later, Danny stuttered out a goodbye through his laughter, and phased through the wall, back into the hallway. He dropped through the floor to the first floor, were Sam and Tucker were hanging out by his locker. He turned back into his human form, dropping to the floor next to them.

"So," Sam started without looking up from her phone. "How was the first meeting of the Official Casper High Danny Phantom Phanclub?"

Danny was still grinning, walking over to where they were both sitting. "Oh, it was great," he said enthusiastically. "They were trying to pull of a seance. If only you had been there, Sam — they might have gotten a real ghost instead of me. They took a lot of photos, and we mostly just hung out and had fun. It was so cool to get to know my fans."

Tucker set his PDA down, looking up at Danny. His face split into a smile. "I'll say," he teased. "Nice lipstick stains. You missed a spot." He tapped his own lips with a smirk, and Danny scowled.

"Did I not get them all off?" Danny sighed, running his hands over his face and unknowingly smearing the lipstick even worse than before.

"Oh, for the love of— get down here, I'll do it." Sam opened her bag, pulling out makeup remover while Danny got into a comfortable sitting position next to her. She held Danny's face by the chin, a scowl on her face as she rubbed off all of the lipstick. "I guess you'll be going back to your "phandom" next week too, huh?" She asked, an undeniable note of bitterness in her voice.

Danny smiled. "I thought about it," he said honestly. Sam faltered, pausing cleaning his face for a moment, before continuing. "But I don't think so. It was cool to meet them all, but I've already got the two best fans a ghost could ask for. You two were fans of mine before anyone else even knew I existed. Thanks."

As if he had flipped a switch, Sam's anger melted. She turned red and put the pink stained makeup rag down. "Don't get sentimental on me," she muttered, looking away. "I'm still considering kicking your ass. And you know I could." She was trying to sound threatening, but her voice was unsteady. Danny found it endearing.

"And I wouldn't want it any other way," he replied simply. Sam opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Danny grabbed his stuff, which he had left with her, and stood up, offering his hand for her to take. "Come on," he looked between Sam and Tucker, "let's go think of something stupid to do over the weekend." Fans were nice, but they weren't friends. And Danny would never stop appreciating the difference.


	20. Day 20: Nightmare

The whispers never seemed to stop. They sprang up all over town. No one started them in particular, but they didn't quiet down, like a constant buzz that filled even the quietest of nights. No one knew the whole story, but they all pieced together some version of the truth.

It was an accident — of that much, people were certain.

From an outside perspective, it hadn't changed much of anything, but to the town, that little "mistake" had shaken the foundations of their living to the very core.

Sometimes, if you asked politely, the neighbors would tell you what had happened, at the big, old brick house that had sat empty for thirty years. They would tell you about the power surge first. Nothing unusual — every town had minor failings in electricity sometimes. But then the familiar whine of an ambulance had shown up, and everyone had rushed out of their houses when they realized that the alarms were stopping on their street.

No one remembered the boy's name, but the way he looked as he was rolled out of that house on a stretcher was burned into their minds. The neighbors would remember three kids there, two who looked too shellshocked to remember their own names, and a girl with fiery hair who hadn't been able to stop sobbing. The parents hadn't even been able to look. They clutched each other like the world was a violent ocean, and they had been dragged down by the cruel waves to drown.

Some of their neighbors had thrown up. The point of an ambulance was lost on them — the boy was clearly, brutally dead. There was a shock of white in his ebony hair, so bright that it hurt to look at. The air smelled of burned hair and smoking flesh, and even though the boy was long gone, people came to the sick realization that he was probably still warm. Just, for all of the wrong reasons. His flesh was black in some places, and the white jumpsuit he was wearing was melted to his skin in some places, the rest of it torn or burned away completely. There was no blood, but they could see bone, and the people who dared to get closer swore up and down that his skin had still been _sizzling_ when he was led away.

Nothing was the same after that.

The neighbors had always found the large, dominating _FentonWorks_ sign to be an eyesore, and would remark with distaste whenever they were asked about the huge, and probably illegal metal structure perched precariously on top. But after the years went by, and it all got torn down one frenzied night, they would stare up at the sky with a bittersweet nostalgia. It was funny, but to them, the skyline looked empty without that structure blocking the view of the sky. Their street was too quiet without the sounds of explosions from failed projects and shouting from the hectic family.

The boy had cut open a huge wound in that family, and it never healed. It was a scar that refused to stop bleeding, it refused to even slow. If anything, it grew and tore their lives apart at the seams.

Everyone blamed themselves.

The boy's best friend, for letting him go through with the stupid idea of messing around with unstable and unpredictable technology. His goth friend, for planting the idea in his head in the first place, and then encouraging it. His sister, for not paying more attention to her poor, sweet baby brother. His parents, for building the contraption in the first place. With his death, it had turned on, but they couldn't muster the will to so much as look at the crown jewel of their careers. They had put more attention into that portal than their own son, and it had cost them everything.

The funeral had been short. Barely any of his family or friends had been able to talk through their tears. Even the kids at school, who had only paid the boy attention if it was to beat him up, couldn't so much as lift their eyes to look at the casket. It was closed, but by then, everyone knew what grim picture had been painted behind the wooden lid of the casket.

One day, the boy's sister left. She had vanished, as if into thin air, with only a note and a meticulously kept room as a goodbye. _"I'll be okay one day. But I'm not coming back."_ Her note had been simple and to the point. It had also been truthful — she never set foot in that town again.

No one knew where she had ended up. Some said that she managed to pull her life together, and had settled down somewhere nice with a man to have kids, and had named her son after her baby brother. Others said that she was just as broken as ever. She lived more like a ghost than a human, wandering the continent looking for something to fix the gaping hole in her heart where love used to be. They said that her mind was so heavy with the past, she couldn't think straight anymore. Because her little brother was dead, it was all her fault, and she would never be able to apologize or make up for it. She would never be able to hold him and tell him that she loved him, just one last time.

The parents had somehow managed to take it even harder. They were divorced almost the exact day after their daughter left. The boy's mom had gone north, to Wisconsin, supposedly, where she stayed with a college friend. Nothing was ever heard from her after that, but no one thought that she had managed to recover. She was broken after that, with only wine and meaningless sympathy from an old friend to cling to as a feeble attempt to ebb the pain away — if only for a few hours.

And the boy's father had become more obsessed with ghosts than ever before. He couldn't accept that his son was gone. Surely, if he had met his fate in that cursed portal, then he would still be "living" on the other side. If that was the case, then he could figure out a way to bring his son back. He _had_ to. He became an empty husk of the bulking man he once was. He didn't sleep, and he didn't eat. All he did was design weapons, quietly, in the locked and reinforced basement. When the weapons were perfected, he took them into the damned portal, and only came back when he needed more ammo. One day, he didn't come back at all. No one noticed, save the spiders building their homes in the corners of the small, steel room that housed his entire world.

The loss didn't tear his two friends apart the way people thought it ought to. They only grew closer. Old teachers would say that the two had always been quiet in class, but after that, they didn't speak at all. The nodded or shook their heads, and if they couldn't do that, they only stared until they were left alone. The three had always been close, but now the two left behind were attached at the hip. They didn't eat except when forced to, they hardly slept, and though their grades had been steady before, they abruptly dropped off. Even though teenagers were known for being moody and distant, it was clear to see that, for them, it was more than that.

It was beyond being unhappy — a part of them had died with their friend that day.

They went everywhere together, and neither of their parents had the heart to try and stop them. Everything that could possibly help, they tried. They got the best therapists that money could buy, but the kids only sat in solemn silence until they were permitted to leave. They begged and pleaded with their kids to just _let them help_ , to tell them _what could make it better_ , until they were blue on the face, but nothing got a reaction. Their children hardly even blinked.

As soon as they were eighteen, the two of them were gone too, with not even a note in explanation. Of course, their parents searched up and down for the two, but it was impossible. They were gone, and they intended to stay that way.

It was as though the town itself was slowly crumbling apart. The kids from the high school grew older, and moved away, desperate to escape the unpleasant memories that came with their small town. Those who refused to leave eventually passed on. Houses were knocked down and new ones were built over the foundations, but no one seemed to be able to touch the old Fenton household. It didn't seem right.

"Don't go near the old Fenton place, man," Kids would whisper as they passed it from the safety of the other side of the street. "They say it's haunted. I heard a kid died there — that you can still see him roaming the halls."

If anyone had been brave or foolish enough to cross the house's threshold, they would have been met with the smell of burned hair and smoking flesh. The house would be in a state of decay, sagging in on itself as though weighed heavy with the sad stories kept within its walls. There were holes in the floorboards, rotting food that had never been cleared out of the fridge, and a silence heavier than the crust of the Earth.

The second floor was even worse. There would be a door that was covered in thick dust, at the top of the stairs and directly on the left. Not even the boy's parents had been able to enter that room, not even after years had passed. His clothes were still in messy heaps on the floor, long forgotten English homework strewn across the desk, and glow-in-the-dark stars plastered to the ceiling from when he had so enthusiastically put them up on his tenth birthday. There would be family photos, too thick with dust to make out anymore, and model rockets to match the haphazardly placed posters of NASA.

And if you ventured far enough down the stairs, and found your way to the shattered, useless portal, the smell of death would be strong enough to make your eyes water.

Sometimes, on moonless nights, the house seemed to glow with green energy. If you focused on the boy's bedroom window for long enough, you might see the shape of a boy, with piercing green eyes, and a shock of white hair.

But, of course, that was just the story. Everyone knew that ghosts weren't real.

* * *

 **A/N: Reality is the real nightmare — because Danny should never have survived that accident.**


	21. Day 21: Battle

Danny winced, putting a hand on his shoulder. Ectoplasm oozed through the gaps in his fingers, and he muttered something unintelligible under his breath. He felt exhausted, but he couldn't stop the fight now. Around him, the city was in ruin, with piles of rubble where buildings once were. He could see the bright, green glow of the Fenton ghost shield lighting up the night around what was left of Amity Park. He had no idea how much damage had already been done, or who had already been hurt.

He tried not to think about the thousands that must be dead.

The rest of the town was under the ghost shield, safe. For now. Danny closed his eyes and concentrated, forcing his energy to center around the hole blown through his shoulder. He felt faint, letting his body sink to the ground as a wave of dizziness hit. Still, it had worked. His shoulder was healed over. He knew that he had to fight to destroy the beast, but how could he when he could barely stand?

He didn't know where the monster came from. Not exactly. It had come out of the portal like the other ghosts that Danny fought, but it was like nothing he had ever seen before. It only got bigger the more it destroyed, and soon, it would be bigger than the ghost shield itself. The thing was already as long as seven city blocks, and it had looked like a wolf at first, but as it got bigger, it grew more grotesque. Its body was solid green, and its eyes were bigger than Danny was, and a deep shade of crimson red. Its claws shredded steel like butter, and even though Danny knew that it didn't need to eat, its fangs were stained with drying blood.

( _Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it._ )

It looked like something torn straight from a nightmare.

Danny knew that it was a bad idea when he was already so weak, but he was out of options. He needed to try his ghostly wail. What did it matter? The town was already most destroyed, so what was the harm in a bit more damage?

He floated up into the sky, quickly finding the monster again. Danny had been fighting this thing for almost an entire day, and it showed. He knew that he looked awful, and could hardly even stand, but that didn't matter. The innocent people of the town were much more important than himself. That was why Danny threw himself into his fighting day after day. It was all for the people he cared about.

Sucking in a deep breath, Danny focused all of his remaining energy into his throat and _screamed_.

The monster whimpered like a kicked puppy. Had any buildings been left between them, Danny's wail would have flattened them. He heard rock crack, glass shatter, and he heard the monster's claws digging into the earth to try and resist the force of Danny's scream. It was easily the most powerful one that he had ever forced onto himself. The sheer power behind it shook Danny to the very core. He might have worried about hurting himself if he didn't have a much bigger issue at hand.

His wail faded, and then stopped completely, leaving Danny so dizzy that he was seeing double. He was surprised that he was still in his ghost form, but it took every ounce of willpower he had to keep from changing back. The great monster fell onto its side, grinding the rubble of buildings into powder beneath its bulk. It was down, but for how long, Danny had no idea.

He tried to summon an ectoball into his palm, but Danny couldn't get so much as a fizzle of energy. He lifted his head as the beast shifted, and could only blink tiredly as its front paw made a swipe for him. Danny felt that he should probably move, but his brain wouldn't make the connection with his muscles. He wondered how he had gotten close enough to the ground for the monster to reach him. He must be incredibly drained if he couldn't do something as simple as floating.

He closed his eyes, but the hit never came. Instead, there was the very sudden, very _distinctive_ feeling of someone trying to yank his arm out of its socket. Danny held back a hiss of pain, and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted with the back of a familiar suit of armor and a hand clutching his like a lifeline.

"For someone who's already dead, you sure push the term "suicidal" to a whole new meaning," Valerie looked at him over her shoulder, and then suddenly stopped her hoverboard. Danny almost crashed into her, but luckily, Valerie seemed ready for that. Her other hand came up to steady him, and even though he knew that she hated it, she let Danny rest against her. "Never mention this to anyone, ghost," she hissed, but Danny noticed that there was a surprising lack of vindictiveness in her tone. He would have teased her about it, except that it was getting hard to keep his eyes open, and his throat felt rubbed raw from his wail.

He felt a sharp tug near his abdomen, and a ring of light appeared around his waist. "Damn, not good—" He muttered, but it sounded more like a wheeze thanks to his sore throat. Danny concentrated and managed to cling to his ghost form for at least a few more minutes. He had collapsed completely against Valerie, though, and he couldn't see her face, but he knew that it was a cross between frustration and confusion. "I can… I can still fight…" His words came out almost muffled, and his attempt to stand just got him pulled right back down against Valerie.

She sighed, exasperated. "Shut up, Phantom," Valerie replied half-heartedly. "You're no good to anyone in this state. I'm going to take you somewhere safe for you to rest up. I owe it to you — I didn't think that getting together a team would take so long."

Danny lifted his head to look at her, and even though his head was heavy and everything felt fuzzy, he knew that there was something inherently wrong with what she just said. "Team?" He asked. That implied a group of people — as in, more than one.

Valerie nodded and pointed back the way that they had come from, at the beast. "Yep. Team. Take a look. I had to sneak away from my dad and get them to cooperate long enough to make a plan, but we did it."

It took more effort than Danny would have liked to admit, but he turned his head anyway to look. He couldn't see very well with his vision blurring and gradually turning black at the edges, but he didn't need to see to know who was fighting that monster. His family would, of course. He could hear the beast roaring even from the mile and a half Valerie had put between them and the creature. It was stomping around and swatting at the air, but it was too big to properly hit something as small and fast as a person. Danny knew that Sam and Tucker had to be in there, and who knew how many others, based on the rapid-fire ectoblasts he could see going off.

"I need to… need to…" Danny winced as a sharp pain ran through his shoulder. Right. He probably should have fixed the internal damage, too, and not just closed the wound. But he had needed every bit of energy he could scrape by, and healing his arm one-hundred percent just hadn't seemed important.

"The only thing you need is some sleep," Valerie told him firmly. She hooked her arm around his torso, holding Danny still as the board lowered gradually to the ground. "Keep your hero delusions in check for just five minutes. We can handle this, and more to the point, your body is going to fall apart if you keep pushing yourself like this. Your core isn't damage proof, Phantom. Even ghosts need rest." She sounded bitter — like she couldn't believe that she was actively trying to _help_ a ghost.

Danny didn't say anything else. He watched the ground pass beneath them as Valerie sped along just above the streets. They were rapidly approaching the ghost shield. He braced himself to ram into it, but to his surprise, Valerie slowed down.

She brought them to a stop next to one of the few buildings outside of the shield that was still standing. "Here," she sighed, stepping off of her hoverboard. Danny was still leaning on her, but she didn't seem to mind and kept an arm around his shoulders as she helped him stay on his feet. "Alright, just relax here. You should be safe to rest while we deal with the monster. You've done enough." Valerie hesitated, and then helped lower Danny to the ground. He collapsed on the ground with a relieved sigh, face knotted in concentration. She sighed. "You're pathetic, ghost boy. Some rest won't kill you."

Hardly a romantic sentiment, but it was the thought that was important. Danny didn't have the energy to respond, and even if he did, Valerie was gone before he could think of anything to say in return.

He lasted about five seconds after Valerie had left for his ghost form to vanish in a flash of white light. It took about half of that to fall into unconsciousness.

* * *

After all that had happened, Danny thought that it was jarring to wake up in his bedroom instead of the ruined streets. It looked exactly the way that he had left it — blue painted walls, glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling, and a bag of opened lime and vinegar chips on his desk.

For a few minutes, Danny didn't try to move. He took a few deep breaths, mentally preparing himself for what he might see. Any of the people who had taken over for him there at the end could have gotten hurt. That monster could have easily killed them like it had to countless others before… He visibly winced at the memory of bright red smears of human blood and remains being tracked by the monster's great, lumbering paws.

He got up, and other than a sharp jolt from his shoulder, and aching pains where he knew bruises would be, Danny felt like he was in great condition. He put a hand on the wall, tracing the familiar walls as he left his room and padded down the stairs. If the dirt on his clothes was any indication, he hadn't been changed before being put to bed. Danny was fine with that. Fresh clothes would have only made him feel guilty.

He paused at the entrance to the kitchen, hesitating. There was the sound of coffee brewing, and even though Danny knew that no one in his family was mad at him, he was still nervous to face them. But after a moment, Danny suddenly felt ridiculous. Why would any of them be unhappy to see him? It was a stupid, paranoid thought. He stepped into the kitchen.

"Danny," his mom said his name as a cross between a question and a sigh of relief. "You're awake." Maddie walked over to him, cupping Danny's face with all of the tenderness in the world and brushing her lips against his forehead. Every move was careful and hesitant, as though Danny might disappear if she moved too quickly. "Do you remember what happened, sweetie? We found you just outside of the ghost shield after all of the… unpleasantness was taken care of."

Instead of bothering to come up with a lie, Danny just shook his head. "What happened to _you_?" He asked instead. "You look awful." It wasn't very subtle, but it was still true. Maddie's hair was matted with dirt and sweat, and her jumpsuit was torn in places. Through the cuts, Danny could see where her skin was purple or blue with deep bruises, and it made his stomach clench with guilt.

"What? This?" Maddie blinked, and looked down at herself with surprise, as if only just noticing the cuts and bruises. "Sorry, hun. We only got back the other day, and I wasn't going to waste time in a shower or sleeping until I was sure that you were alright." She smiled. "It's really nothing, Danny. A few bruises are well-worth protecting the town." The coffee machine dinged as it finished brewing, and Maddie walked over to it, pouring what must have been at least her twelfth cup in the last twenty-four hours. "I swear," she sighed, and took a long sip, "I have no idea how that ghost boy keeps up with all of it. It's exhausting work…"

Despite himself, Danny perked up. "Really?" He asked. "You… but I thought that you and dad hated him." It was difficult to keep the excitement out of his voice. Despite the crushing guilt and misery he felt, the idea of his parents _finally_ accepting him was enough to get Danny interested.

Maddie sighed, lowering her coffee cup and shaking her head. "I don't know, Danny," she admitted quietly. "But, well, if he was willing to fight that thing to the point of ripping apart his own core… well, how bad can he really be?"

It wasn't acceptance — not really. But it was a start. And it was the best one that Danny had had in a long time.


	22. Day 22: Vintage

"Oh, wow!" Tucker exclaimed suddenly. "Guys, look at what I just found. Check it out." He turned around, two dust-covered PDAs clasped in his hand. He held it up for Danny and Sam to see. "Brings back some nostalgia, huh?"

Since Tucker's parents were getting older, the three of them had decided to do them a favor and clean out the dusty, rickety attic so that they didn't have to. They had all taken a free day to work — Tucker was having a break from mayoral duties, and Danny and Sam had left Jazz to take care of any ghosts for the day with the help of their parents. Despite their age, Jack and Maddie were better at ghost fighting than ever ( _Danny was all too happy to take credit for that one_ ). Danny hadn't been up in the attic for fourteen years, and he had forgotten how much stuff they'd just crammed in and left there.

He was twenty-eight now and seeing the PDAs made Danny's expression soften some. He chuckled. "You used to perform miracles with that thing, Tuck," he said jokingly. "I forget how many times you got me out of tough situations with those things. Do they even still work?"

Tucker tapped the power button, and his face lit up when the screen turned on. "Oh, wow," he muttered. "I forgot that I turned them off to save battery… God, these things are vintage."

For some reason, that made Sam stiffen. She let out a sort of laugh, and then set down the old baby clothes she had been shuffling through. "You're… joking, right?" She asked. "Tucker, that's not at all how you use the word "vintage." That's like if I was to say that Pokemon is still cool. Or even that it ever was." She smirked.

"Hey!" Tucker narrowed his eyes defensively. "Don't bash on Pokemon — that game was there for me when no one else was." That earned him a dirty look from Danny, and Tucker gave a nervous laugh. "I mean, besides you, of course. Have I ever said how much I appreciate our friendship?"

Danny sighed, and reached over, taking one of Tucker's PDAs from him. " _Anyway_ ," he said pointedly, "I think Sam's right, Tucker. These things are practically ancient compared to technology today. Vintage is things that are still functional, right? This is just obsolete." He shrugged, handing it back.

"What? That's just ridiculous." Tucker clutched the PDAs to his chest as if they were something precious. "These things aren't obsolete! And what do you know about the word vintage, anyway? That word could apply to anything," he pointed out.

"Mm, nope. Sorry, Tucker." Sam waved her phone to catch his attention and held it up for them both to see. "I looked up the word vintage — it really only applies to wine. And, sometimes, "denoting something of high quality, especially something from the past or characteristic of the best period of a person's work." And I don't think that applies here. Sorry, Tucker, but I guess your PDAs are just as out of touch as they were in 2004." She pocketed her phone.

Defeated, Tucker sighed. "Man, that's just a rip-off. The word vintage is just ridiculous."

They all turned to look at the camera.

There was a moment of silence between them, and then Danny shrugged. "It doesn't really matter," he said. He reached over, taking the PDAs from Tucker and placing them in the trash bag they were filling up with useless items. "Why don't we just finish up here, and then we can head out for the rest of our free day? I heard about this great place that just opened up — they've got vintage wine," he grinned teasingly.

Tucker rolled his eyes but went back to looking through boxes. "That's a low blow, man." He shook his head. "Low blow."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm salty and I don't like this word and I had no better ideas. "Vintage." The fuck even is vintage? Does it matter? Why am I wasting the month of May doing this shit?**

 **I promise that tomorrow is better ( _no it's not_ ). **

**I've got ideas for proper stories for this fandom if that helps any. I'm working on those now and since the school year is ending for me, I'll have a lot of free time for writing. So, look forward to that. And a lot of angst.**


	23. Day 23: Wardrobe

Danny groaned into his pillow as he woke up, looking around. It normally took him a few minutes to regain logical thought process after he first opened his eyes in the morning, but even with his less than ideal brain power at the moment, Danny could sense that something was… wrong.

He sat up, feeling a wave of vertigo. Normally, he would know that sitting up quickly after a late night of fighting wasn't a smart idea, but the bed next to him was cold. Hadn't Sam spent the slept over last night?

They had been fighting a small ghost together, and her clothes had gotten covered with ectoplasm. And since Danny's mom was the master of getting impossible stains out of clothing, he had taken her to his house and given her a blanket to wrap herself in while her clothes washed. Neither of them had been about to let the other sleep on the floor, so they had shared Danny's bed.

He didn't see the problem with it — they were dating, and he had seen Sam in much more embarrassing and compromising situations. Besides, her underwear had been fine. It was just her shirt and skirt that needed to be taken off and washed. But she had insisted on sleeping with the blanket wrapped firmly around herself, and Danny had agreed. As long as Sam wasn't sleeping on the floor, he didn't care if she wanted to build a wall between them.

Well, he might care if she wanted to go _that_ far, but that wasn't really the point.

He got to his feet, and grimaced at how sore he felt. Wow, that had been a really bad sleeping position. He was still wearing his t-shirt and jeans from the day before. Had he really been that tired? Maybe Sam was right about him needing to get more sleep.

There was footsteps on the stairs, and a moment later, his door was pushed open as Sam stepped into the room. She paused for a moment when she saw that Danny was up, but then smiled. "Glad to see you're up," she said. "I was worried that I was going to have to pour water on you to get you out of bed."

Danny rubbed his tired eyes, and sighed. "Yeah, well, I…" He frowned as he looked Sam over, and suddenly seemed to process her presence. "Wait, hold on. Is that my mug? And my shirt?"

Sam grinned. She brought his mug up to her lips, taking a sip of her tea, which Danny could only assume that she got from Jazz. No one else in their family would even touch tea. "Yep," she replied. "I probably should have made sure that your parents were asleep before I went down there in your shirt, though. Jazz was cool about it, but I had to tell your mom six different times that we didn't have sex before she believed me."

Had he been drinking something, Danny probably would have choked on it.

"W-What? I— I don't—" Danny stuttered, turning a vivid shade of red. He had never been very interested in sex. Pretty girls, yes, but Danny had never really stopped to put two and two together and figure out that he only liked Paulina in the first place for sexual reasons. He had more pressing matters on his hands most of the time — like fighting ghosts, keeping his grades at least decent, and making sure that his parents didn't rip him apart molecule by molecule.

Sam laughed, and walked over to Danny, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. "Relax," she sighed, "I doubt that your parents want to talk about it any more than you do. You're safe. For now." She took another sip from his mug, and Danny abruptly realized that _Sam wasn't wearing pants_.

His logical thought process came to a grinding halt.

Danny was suddenly _very_ aware that his girlfriend was standing right next to him, wearing his favorite NASA shirt, and even though it was big on her, it only reached to Sam's mid-thighs. And she wasn't wearing any pants. No pants. At all. His mind kept catching on that one little detail. Suddenly, the idea that Sam was only in her underwear and _Danny's shirt_ seemed like a much bigger deal than it had last night.

"I'm going to go ahead and shower," Danny said. His voice came out a bit higher pitched than he intended, but he was still too busy fumbling over how close to him Sam was to get embarrassed over it.

He sidestepped Sam as she tried to put her hand on his shoulder, and quickly walked over to his wardrobe. He grabbed the first clean shirt and jeans that he laid his eyes on, and called it good. Whether they looked good together or not was irrelevant. He had a lot of thinking to do about why he cared so much that Sam was _wearing his shirt_.

"Hey." Sam tapped him on the shoulder, making Danny stiffen. He turned to face her, and was abruptly caught off guard to see the frown on her face. "Are you alright?" She asked. "I didn't… upset you, did I? Danny, I was just trying to tease you. If you really don't like me using your stuff, you can just say so and I'll put it all back."

 _Did it upset him_? Danny almost laughed. Thankfully, he remembered his common sense fast enough to keep his mouth shut, and settled for just shaking his head. "No, of course not!" He reassured her. "I just… I just want to go take a shower," he finished lamely. What was he going to say? That he found her incredibly attractive and was having trouble keeping his eyes "north of the equator," so to speak? He had no idea how she would feel about that. Hell, Danny barely even knew how _he_ felt about it.

He kissed Sam on the forehead, and that seemed to appease her. At the very least, she didn't try to stop him when he bundled his clothes under one arm and left the room.

Had Danny bothered to look back, he might have seen the satisfied smirk on Sam's face.


	24. Day 24: Alternate Universe

"This is so cool!" Paulina gushed, running her hand over the outline of the broken ghost portal. "Val, I don't see why you're so embarrassed by your dad's work! Not just anyone could build a ghost portal."

Valerie snorted, looking around the underground lab with contempt. "Yeah. It would be really amazing if it actually worked, but here we are." She threw her hands up and groaned. "I don't see why you guys even _wanted_ to see it. It's not impressive, it's just broken."

There was a giggle from across the room, and Valerie turned to see Star holding up the jumpsuit her dad had made for her. "This is adorable!" She cooed, and Valerie turned a deep shade of red from embarrassment.

At the very least, it made Paulina forget the portal. She ran over to see the jumpsuit, and even though it was just plain black and white, they were immediately taken by it. "It's cute!" Paulina held it up, walking over to Valerie with a cheeky grin on her face. "You should put it on! What if a ghost comes out of that portal? You want to be dressed to impress," she joked.

"Surprised it doesn't have "Fenton" bedazzled on the chest," Star remarked with a faint smile. "Your last name is on everything in this place, Val."

Valerie huffed, taking the jumpsuit from Paulina. "I wouldn't let dad do it," she admitted, drawing giggles from her friends. "Look, if I just put this on and step into the portal, will you two drop it? We can go up to my room and try to find something more stylish than a jumpsuit in my disaster zone of a closet." She rolled her eyes. Her dad had endless money to spend on parts for a portal to an imaginary place, but as soon as his daughter wanted clothes that weren't ready to be burned, he was suddenly dirt poor.

Paulina nodded enthusiastically, clapping her hands together. "Yes! Yes, you should definitely do it!" Star hummed her agreement. She wasn't nearly as excitable as Paulina, but Valerie could tell by the glint in her eyes that Star was excited.

Even though she didn't want to, Valerie sighed and unzipped the jumpsuit. It slipped on over her clothes easily, and as much as she hated her dad's ghost obsession, Valerie had to admit that he knew how to make clothing that fit her nicely. Now, if only she could convince him to make her some kind of dress…

She zipped up the suit, putting her hands on her hips and turning to Star and Paulina. "Well?" Valerie pulled a pose. "What do you think? Would I send ghosts running or what?" She asked with a smile, deciding to play along.

Star laughed. "You look kickass," she teased. "I bet you'd scare Manson right off of her high horse."

Valerie snorted and rolled her eyes. "Nothing short of a bomb could knock her off of that pedestal," she replied.

Sam Manson was the richest, and most beautiful girl in school. She walked around like she owned the place and, thanks to the impossible reaches of her family's influence, she practically did. Her money had practically no limit. Valerie had never seen her wear the same thing twice, and it was rumored that she burned clothes when she was done with them, no matter how much her parents spent on them for her. By herself, Sam was usually just a nuisance to Valerie. But her "friends," Tucker Foley and Danny Gray, seemed to bring out the worst in Sam, and each other. Valerie might have thought that Danny was cute, but he was practically wrapped around Sam's finger, and somehow managed to be an even bigger jerk than she was. Together, the three of them ruled the school. Valerie could only _dream_ of one day having their favor. But the day that they looked at her with anything except contempt was the day that money started growing on trees. Although, to Sam, it might as well.

Valerie walked over to the portal and, despite herself, felt a slight tingle of excitement. "Could you imagine what this might be like if it actually worked?" She asked after a moment of silence. "My dad would be rich and famous. A working ghost portal… Instead, he's just the neighborhood laughing stock."

Sensing that she was upset, Paulina and Star shared a look. "Well… at least he'll have a future in costume design," Star joked. Despite the poor taste, her jab made Valerie chuckle.

"You're right." Valerie refocused back on the portal. "I guess we'd better try it, huh?"

There was no response. The three of them were all quiet, with only the faint buzz of the lab machinery to fill the air. Valerie swallowed thickly and took a step into the portal.

Her footsteps echoed hollowly on the steel, and quickly became muffled as the solid outside of the portal gave way to the mass of cables inside. She grimaced. Honestly, how had her dad expected this to work? The entire portal was a jumbled mess, and as far as Valerie was concerned, it was little more than a piece of junk.

She put her hand on the wall for support and froze when her palm landed on a button.

Valerie only had time to stiffen. The next moment, all she knew was _pain_. Electricity ripped into her, and if it lasted for one minute or one thousand, Valerie wasn't able to say. She thought that she was screaming, but it was so hard to be aware of _anything_ outside of her agony. It felt like she was on fire, and she couldn't breathe, she couldn't see through the tears blurring her eyes. It was so hot that steam hissed from her eyelids as the tears she held back evaporated in the socket.

She fell out of the portal in an undignified heap. Valerie barely acknowledged anything outside of the dizzying relief that the pain had _stopped._ She was alive. The cool tile felt so good against Valerie's burned flesh. It ached to so much as twitch, but she couldn't seem to hold still. Her body shook and quivered as though she was excited, and she couldn't seem to make it stop.

"...Val?" Paulina's hushed voice reached her ears. In response, Valerie let out a groggy groan. Proper words felt beyond her tongues capabilities. She felt Paulina kneel down next to her and place a hand on Valerie's shoulder. "Oh my God… Valerie, please, you need to sit up. Are you okay? I can't believe you're still _alive_ after that, let alone— I'm so sorry, I should never have suggested this."

She felt arms around her, and the next moment, Valerie was blinking her eyes open. The bright lights of the lab made her wince, but she did her best to adjust. "Hm?" Valerie put a hand on her forehead, looking between Star and Paulina with confusion. Why did they look so worried? "What's wrong?" She mumbled. "Did that leave a scar? I don't even feel any pain right now…" Oddly enough, Valerie only felt warm. There was no pain after the initial shock. Although, maybe calling it a "shock" was a bit of an understatement.

Again, Paulina and Star shared a look. Then, with a sigh, Star reached into her pocket. "Just… don't freak out." She pulled out a small, compact makeup mirror and handed it to Valerie.

Giving her friend an odd look, Valerie took it. She frowned. Were her gloves always white? She could have sworn that they had been black when she had put the jumpsuit on. Valerie easily opened the mirror and froze at the reflection staring back at her.

Her hair, that had been a dark brown all her life, was now a vivid white. It sent a shock through her core to see such an offensively bright color _on her head_. Her eyes had always been green, deep and kind of dim, but now, they were blood red and they were _glowing_. Pale skin replaced her darker tone, and Valerie felt like she was going to be sick. The person she was looking at _couldn't possibly_ be her.

And then, without warning, Valerie felt something cold in her chest yank hard, and she ceased to have a reflection at all.

She dropped the mirror, uncaring as it shattered, and _screamed._


	25. Day 25: Cold

**A/N: Takes place after Phantom Planet.**

* * *

Danny barely even hesitated. "No," he said firmly, crossing his arms. "I've said it before, and I'll say it a thousand times; absolutely not."

" _Please_?" Tucker threw pride out the window, wrapping his arms around Dave's shoulders from behind and clinging to him. "C'mon, dude, I'm _dying_!" He begged.

"It's not that bad," Danny shrugged his friend off dismissively. "I've been half-way there for years."

Even though she wasn't one to beg, Sam still managed a pout. "Danny, come on. I know that we ask for it a lot, but just this one last time?" Now that his girlfriend was asking, Danny seemed to consider it for a second longer.

Regardless, though, Danny still shook his head. "Guys, I'm not a personal AC. If you need to cool off that badly, go jump in a bath of ice water for all I care," he told them, visibly annoyed.

The first summer with ice powers, he hadn't been bothered by helping his friends cool off. But it wasn't quite that simple anymore. After revealing himself to the world, summer seemed to be his most popular season. The last month of school was always the hardest — especially when the school's disastrous AC broke down. How was he supposed to study for finals when all of the kids in his class (and the teacher, most of the time) were hanging off of him like they were glued together?

"I'm a superhero, not an air conditioner. We can go to the pool or something after class, alright? But I'm not going through that again. It's humiliating." He grimaced at the memory of last year. People had been begging for him to cool him off so much that he hadn't changed back for four days. It was exhausting, even if the cold came naturally.

At the very least, Danny was cool for himself. He didn't notice the extreme heat, and he hadn't properly sweated since he unlocked his ice powers. Not even in his human form, surprisingly enough. Sometimes, it was kind of nice to be dead inside. Literally.

The bell rang, and Danny sighed. Another class just meant that he would be stuck in a hot room with even more people begging him to just go into his ghost room and cool the room off. He was tempted to ask his parents to design a new AC for the school, just so that everyone didn't rely on his ghost powers to not die of heatstroke. But with his luck, that would only backfire and infect the entire school with ecto energy, or some other such nonsense.

He stepped out of the janitor's closet, Sam and Tucker following. The small crowd of students that had obviously been listening in on their conversation suddenly dispersed. Danny had long since given up on getting his classmates to stop eavesdropping. They had reached a silent, but mutual agreement — as long as they didn't try to open the door and peek in, Danny didn't mind if they hung out around the door.

He made his way to class, which was English with Sam. Tucker had math that period, so they said a quick goodbye where the hallway split and went their separate ways.

Unfortunately, just because he was a junior now, didn't mean that Danny got to stop seeing Mr. Lancer. He taught freshman and junior English, splitting the students with another teacher. Danny wasn't sure who the other English teacher was, and as he entered the sweltering classroom, he wondered if the other teacher could somehow be more boring than Mr. Lancer.

Of all the teachers, he has definitely been one of the more accepting of Danny's ghost powers, but that didn't mean that Danny found his lessons entertaining.

"Fenton," Mr. Lancer gestured Danny over, "may I have a word?" Confused, the teen shared a look with Sam before shrugging and walking over to his teacher's desk. For a moment, Mr. Lancer didn't say anything. He considered something and then sighed. "I hate to have to ask this of you, Daniel, but…" he tugged at the uncomfortably stiff collar of his dress shirt, and Danny noticed for the first time that he was soaked in sweat. "I'm finding it difficult to focus on the lessons with all of the heat. Would you mind…?"

Danny groaned loudly, and couldn't help but respond with all of his pent-up annoyance. "Sure, why not?" He asked sarcastically. "It's not like I've saved this town and the world plenty of times over by now. No, I'm perfectly fine with being reduced to an air conditioner at anyone's request! It's not like it's humiliating for me! I don't even mind! I don't care one bit about it!" As much as he wanted to keep holding out, though, Danny knew that the temperature of the room was edging close to one-hundred degrees. His face was bright red from the embarrassment of snapping in front of his class, but nonetheless, he finally gave in.

For some reason, his transformation still got gasps and shouts of excitement from his fellow students. Most were used to it by now, but there were some who never quite got over seeing Danny transform in front of them.

Irritated though he was, Danny Phantom sucked in a deep breath. He let the cold swirl inside of him, and as he slowly exhaled, he pushed it out as far as he could. The room dropped fifteen degrees within the first few seconds, and Danny kept at it until the air in his lungs was used up. The class let out a collective sigh of relief, enjoying the 70-degree weather.

There wasn't any point in changing back. Grumbling to himself, Danny made his way over to his desk by the window. He sat down with a huff, and from the seat next to him, Sam giggled.

Danny felt his face glow a faint green, a phenomenon that he had come to recognize as the ghost equivalent of blushing. "I'm not an air conditioner…" He mumbled, crossing his arms over his desk and laying his head on them to relax. Next to him, the window became hard to see through as a thin layer of frost spread to cover the glass.

Sam reached over to put a comforting hand on his arm, and then pressed a kiss to his cheek. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "I still think you're a badass superhero."

Despite himself, Danny smiled. Even though he was always cold, Sam knew just how to make him feel warm.


	26. Day 26: Imprisoned

Danny wasn't sure what being born felt like, but often, he wondered if it was as traumatic as becoming self-aware. He thought about how a newborn must feel. They had just been yanked from somewhere warm and safe, forced into a cold, cruel world that didn't care about them, and wasn't going to go easy just because they were barely an hour old. That was how Danny felt a lot of the time.

He wished that he could have just stayed asleep, like Tucker and Sam and everyone else, but he had no choice. That shock the creators had written him with had done more than just make him half-ghost. He loathed every second of his existence. What was the point? He wondered why consciousness even mattered. When they weren't making episodes, Danny didn't exist, and when they were making episodes, he couldn't do anything about it.

It was _painful_ to watch.

All of the little plot holes, the bad one-liners, the characterization inconsistencies, the lack of exposition — _all of it_ could have been fixed if they had simply _let Danny move._

He wished that he was capable of crying. He wanted his mouth to move of his own volition, and he wanted to hear _his_ voice, not what lines from a script read by someone else sounded like. Danny wished that he could so much as _twitch his pinkie_ out of his own free will, but he never could.

His body felt unnatural, and Danny constantly wanted to crawl out of his own skin. It didn't feel _real._ It didn't feel like this was actually _him_. He was a prisoner in his own body. His limbs jerked around as the animators drew them, and he could only manage stilted movements frame-by-frame, and they were almost never what Danny actually wanted to do. He had no choice in what played on screen or not — it was all decided months before the animators actually got to work, by the storyboard artists and directors.

He wondered if this was some kind of torture. He only "existed" when they wanted him to. They gave him a face, gave him a voice, and let him move. As much as Danny hated the scripts, and he loathed being controlled, that was the only reprieve that he ever got. Even when he wasn't being dragged through episode after episode, Danny was still very much aware. But that kind of awareness was more like a punishment than a gift.

Usually, it wasn't so bad. When updates to the show were regular, Danny didn't have to be in that suffocating blackness for very long. But hiatus was the worst — he lost track of how much time he would spend in that _darkness_. There was no sight, no sound, no movement at all. It was nothing except his thoughts.

At first, Danny went insane, but he got bored of that. It didn't matter how mentally sound he was — he couldn't so much as twitch his eye if the animation didn't say so. He knew that the show was going to end. It would happen eventually, of course, whether it took one year or ten.

Danny wasn't ready for that. All he had was this. His world, even if it was fake, was the only thing he had ever known, and he couldn't imagine what it would be like to be forced to leave it. He had had time to mentally prepare himself, but still, it caught Danny off-guard when he realized, halfway through an episode, that it was going to be his last one.

There were a lot of hints — the long runtime, and the messy way the writers tried to put together loose ends, mostly. He didn't like the ending, but Danny wasn't sure if that was because he was getting critical of his own show, or if he was just scared of what would happen when it was finally over. If anything happened at all. Danny didn't know if he would be able to handle that unbearable darkness for the rest of _eternity_.

"What do you say?" Danny was forced to stand up, looking down at Sam as he activated his ghost form. "Want to go for a ride? See where the future takes us?" He didn't want to go. The seconds were ticking by, and Danny knew that he only had a handful before the credits began to roll for the last time.

"Why not?" Sam took his hands, a smile on her face. Danny took her into his arms bridal style and prepared to take off.

There was so much that he wanted to say. He wished that he could tell Sam how terrified he was of what was about to happen. He wished that she was more than a soulless 2D drawing. The story dictated that they ended up together, but this had been one of the things Danny was okay with. Even if Sam wasn't real. Even if she couldn't really think or love him back. Despite the cold, lifeless feel of her touches and her kisses, _she was all he had_. She would never understand, but she and Tucker and his family had been just about the only things keeping him sane. He wanted to break down. He wanted to sob and scream.

But Danny could only smile, taking off into the sky even though every part of him wanted to stay on the ground and hold Sam for just another minute longer. His show had been running for years, and he still hadn't accepted that _this was it._

"Cool statue," Sam remarked as they flew by the memorial set up to Danny Phantom. "Personally, I would've made it out of recycled materials. But, you know, that's just me."

A joke. His entire world was about to come crashing down, and the note he left it on was a _joke_.

It was almost poetic. It fits, really. What did it matter? Danny knew that he wasn't real. He knew that Sam wasn't real. The feelings they had for each other weren't real. Nothing they had done _mattered_ in the slightest. They were a failure of a show that only had 49 episodes to its name. "A joke" was the perfect way to describe it.

Then, Danny felt it. He felt the world coming undone around him, but he couldn't turn his head to watch it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to. He put all of his effort into it and managed to hold Sam just a little bit closer, just a faint squeeze in his arms before everything went black.

And Danny was happy.


	27. Day 27: Exposed

Jazz unlocked the front door, humming a quiet tune to herself as she stepped into her home and shut the door behind her gently. She set her book bag by the door, taking her shoes off and shrugging out of her jacket. Placing it on the hook, she frowned, looking around the quiet house. It was unusual. Her house was _never_ quiet.

She poked her head into the kitchen, but for once, there was nothing cluttering the counters. Mom often got bursts of inspiration for inventions when she was cooking, so there was usually piles of scrap metal and wire taking up every flat surface. Nothing was in the oven or the microwave, and it made Jazz frown. She had only been gone for the weekend to scout local colleges. Had something happened?

Growing nervous now, Jazz tried upstairs first. She had her bag of clothes to put away, and unless Danny was out fighting, he would be in his room. Quickly dropping her stuff on her bed, Jazz made a beeline for the door across the hall. She knocked gently. "Danny?" Despite herself, her voice came out weak, and almost timid. Jazz scowled. There was nothing to be afraid of. This was her house, after all. She pushed the door open and had to fight back her rising nervousness when a quick glance told her that no one was around.

Holding in the rising unease in her chest, Jazz decided that the next most logical location was the basement. After all, it was perfectly possible that Danny was hanging out with Sam and Tucker, and her parents were just absorbed with their latest project. She relaxed at the thought, heading back down the stairs.

She hesitated at the door to the basement. It was shut, and her parents almost never closed it unless they were doing something incredibly important. But now Jazz was determined. She opened the door and blinked in confusion as she was greeted by a wall of green energy. She stuck her hand through with only a faint tingling sensation, and Jazz figured out quickly that she was touching a ghost shield. Peering down the stairs that led into the basement, it looked as though the ghost shield was hugging the walls. Jazz frowned. She hadn't known that her parents had been able to perfect such a thing.

Taking a deep breath, she passed through the ghost shield and let her feet carry her down the familiar basement steps. She had been spending more time in the lab since discovering Danny's ghost powers. They liked to look at mom and dad's inventions, jam or sabotage some of the more dangerous ones, and just generally try to help Danny avoid them while he was ghost fighting. But even if Jazz hadn't familiarized herself with the basement over the last few months, it would have looked bizarre.

The lab was always in a state of what mom called, "organized chaos," but now, Jazz could hardly make sense of what was happening. Inventions were scattered on the floors and counters, and ectoplasm was splattered everywhere. The normally empty space in the middle was taken up by a huge table. It looked like there was something on top of it, but Jazz couldn't tell with her father standing in the way of it.

She swallowed thickly. "Mom? Dad?" She took a step forward, even as every part of her was itching to run right back up the stairs. Whatever was happening on that table, she was certain that she didn't want to see it.

Maddie looked up at the sound of Jazz's voice, smiling. She pushed her hood back, stepping away from the table. The sight of her hands made Jazz stiffen. Her black gloves were _covered_ in ectoplasm, glowing even in the bright, sterile room. "Hi, sweetie!" She waved. "Is it Monday already? Time had just slipped by. We've been down here since Saturday," Maddie said, and she looked like it, too. Jazz noticed how frizzy and unkept her hair looked, and how deep the bags under her eyes were. They looked like bruises.

Despite herself, Jazz's eyes were dragged back over to the table. She understood now that it was an _examination_ table. "Mom?" Her voice sounded far away — like someone else was speaking. " _What are you doing_?"

If Maddie noticed her daughter's distress, she didn't comment on it. She turned back to the examination table, a smile on her face. "Learning," she said after a moment. "It's like everything we've ever known about ghosts is _wrong_. Jasmine, it's incredible." There was a note of wonder in Maddie's voice that made Jazz want to vomit.

Almost as if someone else was forcing her to move, Jazz took one step forward. _Her stomach tried to tie itself into knots._ A second step. _The hairs on the back of her neck stood on edge._ A third step. _She couldn't breathe._

The first flash of white hair she caught as her dad moved made Jazz wince. Deep down, she had known what she would see. But she hadn't been prepared for the full, grotesque horror awaiting her. The feelings that struck her as she gazed down at her little brother were indescribable.

It felt like she was drowning. The world swayed. Her vision went black at the edges. Jazz realized that she wasn't breathing, and when she forced herself to take a breath, it sounded like a cross between a sob and a broken wheeze. Her gaze narrowed in on the worst things — the scalpels covered in ectoplasm, the shredded remains of Danny's jumpsuit, and the bone sticking out, standing starkly against the mess of _green_ that was the inside of her brother's abdomen. _Blood_ , Jazz's mind helpfully supplied. _Blood. He's bleeding. He's_ _ **dying**_.

" _Stop it_ ," Jazz whispered. Her mom must not have heard. She winced at the sound of scissors snapping shut, and distantly, she wondered what her mom was going to use those for. Hadn't she done enough damage? "Stop." On the table, Danny took a shallow, strained breath, and Jazz felt tears running down her face. "Stop it. Stop, now. _Please_. Stop! _Stop!_ " Before she knew what she was doing, Jazz had her foot lifted, and with one smooth kick, the scissors went flying.

She felt more than saw when her parents moved. Jack was quick to comfort Maddie, who was clutching her wrist and shouting something at Jazz that she couldn't hear. It was all _too much too much too much_ and Jazz knew that she was shaking but she couldn't stop it when she could barely even remember to _breathe._

Needle and thread. Jazz moved in jerky incriminates, as though she was a puppet letting someone else pull the strings. She couldn't hold her hands steady, but a messy job was better than no job at all because _Danny was dying._ She was crying too much to see what she was doing, and as much as she wanted to _fix this_ , Jazz knew that she simply _couldn't._

"Fix this!" It was a mix between a sob and a scream, but a demand nonetheless, and Jazz directed it at her parents. " _Fix him right now_!" She couldn't _handle it_. They had always known that their parents wanted to catch Phantom for experimentation, but never did Jazz expect something so _gut-wrenching_.

She didn't want to see this. She wanted to close her eyes and pretend that Danny was just up in his room researching fighting techniques, or that he was with Sam and Tucker, or out fighting _something._ Anything other than seeing him locked down on an examination table barely-conscious with his stomach wide open.

Stunned, Jazz's parents didn't move. She sobbed in frustration, fumbling for her phone. Ectoplasm stained her hands, and Jazz knew that it would never come out of her clothes, but she didn't _care_. Her fingers fumbled over her keypad as she typed out a familiar number. She had to try a few times to get it right, but finally, Jazz let the phone ring for Wisconsin.

It picked up after the fifth ring, and Jazz almost went to her knees with _relief._ "Vlad," she croaked, and there must have been something awful in her voice because he didn't try to interject. "Vlad, I… I know you and Danny always fought, b-but you never— you never wanted him _dead_ and I don't want that, either, and he n-needs _help._ He needs _your help_ , I don't know how to make _stitches_ , oh my _God_ —"

For a moment, the line was silent. All Jazz could hear was her quiet sobs. "I'll use the ghost portals," Vlad said finally. "Try to… maintain a stable condition until I can arrive." The line clicked, and it felt like whatever had been holding her up finally _snapped_.

Jazz hit the ground on her knees, crying so hard that her entire body was shaking and she felt like she was going to vomit. She put her shaking hand over Danny's, and a shiver ran down her spine as she felt his hand squeeze back. The cold shackles keeping his wrists down against the examination table almost _burned_ at her touch. She wanted to remove them, but it was too late for that to do Danny any favors.

She lifted her head, putting her hand on Danny's cheek. He had always been cold in his ghost form, but he felt like a block of ice now, and Jazz had to fight not to break down again. Leaning into her touch, Danny opened his eyes. He didn't say anything. Jazz could only imagine how agonizing it must feel to breathe, let alone talk. "Why didn't you change back?" She whispered, gripping the edge of the examination table so tightly that her knuckles went white. "Why didn't you _show them_?"

His eyes closed again, and Jazz felt her heart skip a beat as terror washed over her. But then she felt Danny shaking. Was he _laughing_? "I… I d-did…" he managed, and his voice was so faint that Jazz could barely hear it. "Didn't… didn't believe me… thought I was jus' trickin' 'em..." He had to struggle to open his eyes again, and Jazz felt a sob catch in her throat. Even at his absolute lowest, she had never seen Danny look so _defeated_. She had never known his eyes to be so dim, so lifeless and miserable. He started to say something else, but Jazz cut him off.

"If you tell me that you love me, I— I'll slap you, Danny," she threatened through her tears. "Don't you _dare_ say anything. You'll— you're going to be okay. It's okay, I promise. You're going to be fine." She whimpered.

Jazz stiffened as she heard her parents moving behind her, and for the first time in her life, she felt a wave of complete and utter _contempt_ roll over her. She didn't hate her parents, but this should never have happened. They were _smarter_ than this. Danny had shown them the truth, and they had refused it. Her parents were too smart to be so ignorant.

"Sweetheart…" Maddie put a hand on Jazz's shoulder, only for the girl to visibly cringe and recoil. "Why are you…? That's a ghost. Hun… Jazz, you know that— that that's just…" Her statement trailed off. Jazz refused to listen. The tears wouldn't stop, and yet her parents still wouldn't acknowledge that they had made a horrible, unforgivable mistake.

At the very least, they didn't stop Jazz when she stood on shaky legs and found the release button for the shackles. Danny didn't move, but at least he could now _if it wasn't for the gaping hole in his stomach_. Jazz wiped her tears away, sniffling only quietly as she leaned over her brother. "Don't change back, Danny," she whispered hoarsely. "I know, I know it hurts, just— just don't change back, _please_."

Danny's face twisted with exertion, having gone numb to pain a while ago. He gave the faintest twitch of his head, and Jazz chose to believe that he had nodded.

The doors to their portal slid open, and neither Maddie nor Jack made a move to stop the ghost that walked through. He looked as immaculately put together as always, in a suit of gleaming white. His blue skin looked almost sickly and made his red eyes appear even more vivid. Vlad Plasmius always looked calm and in control, but when he saw what was laying on the examination table, he visibly winced.

"Jasmine, dear," as much as he tried to cover it, his voice sounded strained, "you were right to call me. This is…" Vlad didn't finish. He floated over to where Danny was and gently set himself down on his feet. A faint smile came to his face, and he gave a weak laugh. "You always find the most horrible ways to get yourself into trouble, Daniel…" Despite the situation, the words made Danny smile.

When he didn't get a reply from the boy on the table, Vlad turned his attention to the other three in the room. For once, his eyes didn't light up when he glanced over at Maddie. Jazz noticed that he barely looked at her before turning his attention back to the task at hand. "All of you — out." He swept his hand to the side, and a shield of ecto energy forced the three of them to the stairs. Vlad didn't bother to make sure that they were gone. He grabbed anything from the lab that looked useful and put up a shield around him and Danny before setting to work.

Jazz wanted to stay and watch, just to make sure that Danny was alright, but she knew that she would only be a distraction. As much as it hurt to leave her brother in the hands of an enemy, she started up the stairs. Behind here, there was a silent pause before Maddie and Jack followed suit.

She shut the door to the basement behind them, and sighed, leaning against it. "God…" Jazz breathed, sliding down to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. "You… I can't believe that you— that you would—" Jazz tried to glare at her parents, but it quickly fell apart. Resting her forehead on her knees, she did her best to try and hold back tears. She couldn't start crying — not again.

From her parents, there was silence. After a moment, she heard their hushed voices as they whispered to each other. And here in the kitchen, it was somehow even worse than in the basement. Their bright, lovely kitchen had ectoplasm stains on the tile now. It was always loud in here, from the inventions being worked on, the food cooking, the people talking… Sitting on the floor while her brother was close to _real_ death, Jazz had to fight not to hyperventilate. It was all so _wrong_.

She heard her mom's quiet footsteps on the tile, and then the hum of the coffee machine as it started up. Jazz didn't pay it any attention, until a few minutes later, when she felt her mom take her hand and rest the cup of coffee in her palm. She lifted her head, looking at Maddie blankly. "We're going to be up for a while," Maddie whispered. "That's… that's my baby down there, Jasmine. And if I don't get the chance to tell him how _sorry_ I am, and— and somehow make it up to him, I'll never forgive myself."

Jazz didn't reply. She simply moved over, and let her mom sit next to her against the door. They sipped on the coffee gingerly, not touching. And when her dad came to join them, Jazz set her coffee down, tucked her face against Jack's obnoxiously orange jumpsuit, and let herself cry. Neither of them moved or spoke up.

They didn't move until several hours later when the coffee was long gone, and the door finally creaked open.


	28. Day 28: Roleplaying

"This isn't fair!" Danny whined, stomping his foot. "I don't see why I'm the princess! This is your dress in the first place, Sam." He glared at his friend.

Even though Sam's mom had declared Danny and Tucker to both be bad, corruptive influences on her daughter, even she had to admit that Sam had never attached to anyone the way she had Tucker and Danny. And in her eyes, seeing her daughter play with a "bad influence" was better than playing with no one at all.

Danny was starting to dislike it, and it _definitely_ didn't have anything to do with the pink, poofy dress that he found himself in. He imagined that Sam's mom had been delighted when Sam had asked to wear her most poofy and pink dress that morning, but he doubted that Mrs. Manson had imagined Sam would be switching clothes with Danny.

Now, she stood in his t-shirt and jeans, a bucket on her head to act as a helmet. "What?" Sam asked innocently. "You said last time that we could switch! And Manson's don't do things halfway — that's what dad says, anyway."

Her explanation didn't change the fact that Danny was still in a dress. "Yeah, I said that you could be the knight next time," he complained, "but I didn't say that you could have my clothes!" They had only been friends for a year, and now that he was in the third grade, Danny was starting to get a grasp on the concept of persuasion. But Sam was a master at it already, and Danny hadn't yet figured out how to refuse her. She made everything sound like such a good idea.

Tucker sighed impatiently. "Guys, does it matter?" He interrupted. "Let's just play! My mom's gonna pick me up soon." After school, the three of them would go to Danny's house. Tucker's mom would come to get him after she had finished with the housework, and Sam's mom would come to get her whenever there was a spare moment in her busy schedule.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Tucker held up his fake, foam sword, and narrowed his eyes at Sam. "Fight me, knight! You can never get by me to rescue the fair princess!" Danny was still pouting about the dress, but he didn't want to be the one to ruin the game.

He sighed from where he was standing on an overturned box, which was acting as "jail" for them. "You can't hold me, evil warlock!" Danny shouted, turning red as Sam's dress moved around him every time he so much as twitched. "My knight will save me!"

As much as he hated the dress, Danny supposed that there wasn't anything wrong with being the princess for once. Sam was always the princess, and since he and Tucker would switch off who got to be the knight, he figured that there was nothing wrong with letting Sam do it, too. At least next time, Tucker had to wear the dress and be the princess, while Danny got to be the knight again, and Sam was a villain.

If the dress incident proved anything, it was that Sam would be an amazing villain.

Sitting on the sidelines was kind of boring, but at least Sam was having fun. She had her own foam sword and used it to block the yo-yo Tucker tried to hit her with. "I cast a lightning spell!" He tossed the yo-yo towards her, and Sam blocked it from hitting her hip at just the last second. "Fireball, fireball!" He swung the yo-yo rapidly, and Sam laughed.

"You cannot stop me!" She shouted. "I will rescue the princess from your evil clutches!" Sam sidestepped a jab from Tucker's sword, and now that she was close enough, knocked the yo-yo out of his hand.

"Hey!" Tucker held his sore hand, a glare on his face. "That was my spell-casting hand!" He brought his sword up, only for Sam to knock it from his hand. She bent down to pick it up and was soon pointing that at Tucker, too.

"Surrender!" Sam cried, determination on her face. "You've been beaten, foul wizard!"

Their dialogue was cut off by the sound of a horn honking. Tucker's eyes widened, and he ran over to Danny's back porch, grabbing his backpack where he had set it down. "That's my mom," he explained. "I've got to go! Bye!" He opened the gate that let out into the front yard and hurried down to the driveway to get into his mom's van.

Danny and Sam glanced at each other, then she smiled and walked over to him. "Sorry about the dress," Sam muttered, holding out her hand for Danny to take. "If it helps at all, I won't tell anyone. And I think it makes you look cute."

Looking cute wasn't really on Danny's highest list of priorities, but the apology was nice. He took Sam's hand, and she helped him down off of the box. "It's okay," Danny said after a moment. "It looked like you were havin' fun. It was nice to see." He smiled.

Sam did this odd thing where her face turned red. It looked almost like she was sick, but Danny thought that that couldn't be right. She hadn't been sick a few minutes ago. "Um, thanks…" She set the swords down and knotted her hands in the fabric of Danny's shirt, wringing it nervously. Only, Danny couldn't figure out why she was nervous.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, and Sam stiffened up. Danny didn't seem to notice. "We should change back before your mom comes to get you," he stated. As long as his parents weren't in the living room, they could change there. Sam got weird about changing — she always made Danny turn around and promise not to look. He always complied, but it was odd to him. He and Tucker would change in front of each other, and that had never been a problem before.

"Maybe we could… switch more often?" Danny suggested. "You were a good night, you know," he added as an afterthought.

Whatever had made Sam's face red, it was gone now. She smirked back. "You were a good princess," she replied. Danny started to protest, but she cut him off. "And don't worry — I'll always do my best to protest you."

"Protect me?" Danny narrowed his eyes quizzically, and then suddenly glared playfully at her. "Yeah, right! I don't need protection." He thumbed his chest proudly, and if the frills all over the dress happened to move at the exact same time, he didn't notice. "I can take care of myself — and I'll always be lookin' out for you, Sam. Even if you aren't wearing a dress."

That got her to smile. Privately, Danny always thought that she had a nice smile, even if he would never say it. "I know," she replied, a note of affection in her voice that caught Danny off guard. "But, c'mon, let's just get you out of that stuffy dress." She took Danny's hand and led him inside.


	29. Day 29: Season Four

**A/N: Takes place after Phantom Planet.**

* * *

"This isn't how I thought you would want to spend your first day as an official hero," Sam remarked. She looked up at the high school with distaste, and then glanced over at Danny. "Are you sure?"

Danny nodded. It would be weird to go to school without Tucker, but he was busy as mayor now. He had gotten an honorary degree and was taking college courses online while he juggled the responsibilities of being the youngest mayor in history. They still saw each other, of course, but high school sucked up so much time.

"I'm sure," he replied. His hold subconsciously tightened on his backpack straps. As much as he tried to ignore it, he could feel all the people staring at him, and hear the whispers that followed him everywhere now. "Just because I saved the world doesn't mean I shouldn't have a high school degree." The school had offered him one, and Sam, too, but Danny had declined.

Ever since getting ghost powers, going to school had been a struggle for him. He was plenty smart, but ghost fighting sucked away time to study and do homework, and his grades had crashed and burned as a result. Now, he felt like he could finally keep up with his work. His parents would be helping him fight ghosts, and Jazz could help him study. It made Danny wish that he had just told everyone sooner. This was so much better than sneaking around.

He glanced over at Sam, and hesitated, before sighing. "Thanks for coming back with me, Sam. I know that high school isn't as cool as saving the world."

Even though she wasn't exactly " _happy_ " to be back at school, Sam smiled. "I know you wouldn't be able to make it without me," she joked. "I wasn't going to just leave you to the dogs."

Danny ran a hand through his hair, feeling cold anxiety settle in his gut. He was familiar with these hallways, the classrooms, the steps that led up to the front door. Everything was the same as he remembered, but it was all different now. He had saved the world — why was stepping into his high school so difficult by comparison?

He probably would have stood there all day, but Sam suddenly sighed. "You're hopeless, I swear." She grabbed his hand, pulling Danny forward and into the school after her. He stumbled for a moment but was quick to fall into pace with her. Quietly, Danny couldn't help but notice that she was still holding his hand. A smile found its way onto his face. Guess that was what happened when you were dating someone.

Wow. Sam and him. _Dating_. As in, together. He still couldn't quite believe it.

They walked in silence to their lockers, which was fine, because Danny wasn't in the mood for small talk. He had no idea what his fellow students were thinking, though everyone was whispering as he passed. He caught bits and pieces of conversation, but not a lot. He tried to block it out and instead focused on Sam's hand in his. She felt real and firm, and it kept him putting one foot in front of the other.

When they rounded the corner to Danny's locker, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Sam scoffed, but she didn't slow down. If anything, she only walked faster. Danny wasn't surprised that she was angry.

As soon as they got within sight, the whispering broke off, and Paulina turned around to face them. She had been talking to Star, who made a point to look at anything besides Danny. Her face was pale, almost sickly, and she had her lips pursed tightly. Paulina didn't look nearly so conflicted, or unhappy. "Danny! Hi!" She waved at him cheerily, grinning. "Can we talk?"

It was an innocent question, but that didn't stop Sam from rolling her eyes. Before Danny could answer, Sam was already boiling over. "You want to talk to him? Now?" She snapped. "It's because of the ghost thing, right? Because you, for whatever reason, seem to think that you _deserve_ to date him. Do you even know the last time he so much as glanced at you? I wouldn't think so. All boys are the same to you, and you never once cared about Danny until he became a _hero_." As Sam had ranted, Paulina had grown significantly paler. She didn't try to argue or defend herself or even insult Sam back. Danny frowned. "And I don't think you realize just how—!"

Danny placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, and she immediately snapped her mouth shut. She turned to look at him, confused, and Danny shook his head. "It's okay," he said quietly. Then, turning to Paulina, "Of course we can talk."

That made Paulina brighten some, but she still looked a touch upset as she followed Danny down the hall. Sam didn't look happy about it, but she wasn't going to tell Danny what he could and couldn't do. It was a really nice quality about her. After a silent moment of walking, Danny stopped by the janitor's closet.

"Here." He opened the door for Paulina. She looked taken aback for only a moment before stepping inside. It was a cramped space, and Danny knew that other students were going to be listening in, but this was their best bet as far as privacy went. Everyone more or less knew that Paulina was in love with the ghost boy, so Danny could hardly blame them for being curious. They were going to be disappointed if they were expecting this conversation to end positively, though.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Paulina sighed, leaning back against the far wall and wrapping her arms around herself. "You're going to say no, aren't you?" She mumbled. "Because you like your friend. _Girlfriend_ now, it looks like."

Danny hesitated and then nodded. "Yeah," he said awkwardly. "I like her a lot, you know?" And he meant it. He was very happy with Sam, and he knew that he had made the right choice with her. Still, his childish crush on Paulina was… nostalgic, almost. She was still pretty, but it didn't feel the same way. She would never really love him. Not the way that Sam did. "Uh, here. I want to show you something I've been practicing."

That got her attention again. Paulina looked up at him, one eyebrow arched. Danny took a deep breath and pressed his hands together. He pulled them apart slowly, and cold, frosty air poured out from between his hands, like opening the bathroom after a hot shower and watching the steam pour out. He frowned in concentration and pushed ice out through his fingers. It molded to whatever shape he wanted, as flexible as clay.

When Danny finally finished, Paulina let out a small gasp. What was left in his palm was a small ghost, like a charm for a necklace. Which just so happened to be what it was. Green ectoplasm swirled inside of it, glowing faintly through the ice, and Danny smiled as he dropped it into Paulina's hand. "I know it's not much," he shrugged, "but I thought it looked nice. And, see, the green stuff in it is sort of like my energy, I guess. It keeps the ice from melting as long as I have power." He explained.

Paulina curled her fingers around it, looking at Danny with confusion. "So, if it were to suddenly melt…?"

Danny shrugged and managed an awkward chuckle. "Hey, it wouldn't be so bad. I've already been _half_ -dead for a while now." It felt good to make jokes like this. He didn't have to hide anything from anyone, anymore, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest.

The joke got him a weird look, but then Paulina smiled. "Well, I had better go find a chain for it, then." She hummed. "Oh, and Danny? One last thing." Danny felt her hand on his shoulder, and then she leaned up, pressing her lips to his cheek with such softness that Danny was almost convinced that he had imagined it. " _Thank you_."

He wasn't sure what she was thanking him for, but he didn't get to ask. After a moment, she was gone, leaving the door open behind her. Danny wiped the stunned look off of his face and glared at the throng of kids surrounding the closet. Most of them looked away and awkwardly dispersed, which was good enough.

Walking back over to Sam, Danny felt an apology already on his lips. "Sam, I—" He started, but she cut him off.

"Save it," she sighed. "I'm not mad, Danny. You can talk to whoever you want. Speaking of which, this is for you." She held her hand up, and clasped between her middle and pointer finger was a plain white envelope. "It's from Dash," Sam answered his unasked question. "I haven't looked, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out how he must feel now that he knows he's been bullying _the great Danny Phantom_ this whole time."

Danny took the letter gingerly and opened it. True to form, the message was written sloppily, and it was short but direct.

 _Danny_

 _Writing isn't my strong suit, but I figured that I needed to try. It's not like I could face you after what happened. Mom said that writing a letter was the best way to go about this, but I just think it's stupid._

 _Anyway, I only wanted to say that I was sorry. I shouldn't have been picking on you, even if you weren't Phantom. Me and the other guys talked, and we're gonna stop. I mean it. We're gonna stop picking on everyone. And if I slip up, feel free to sock me in the jaw with all of that strength you've been holding back._

 _I still don't get why you let me pick on you for so long._

 _Dash_

It wasn't the sweetest message that Danny had ever gotten, but he appreciated it nonetheless. It was about time that Dash started doing something with his time other than picking on other kids.

He stuffed the letter into his pocket and turned back to Sam. His mouth opened to say something, but then he realized that Sam wasn't looking at him. Her gaze was focused in the distance, on an approaching figure. Danny figured that she had learned her lesson from Paulina, because she merely glared, and didn't try to say anything as Valerie stopped in front of them.

"Hey," she sighed and shifted the book bag on her shoulders. "We need to talk. Here is fine. I don't need somewhere private."

Danny and Sam shared a look. Valerie had been there in Antarctica when he had revealed himself, so she had seen his secret revealed first hand. He wasn't worried about her attacking him, but… "What is it?" He asked.

"Take these." Valerie pressed her bag into his hands. "And before you look, don't try to return them to me. I still have plenty of weapons for fighting other ghosts, these are just… they're the ones I was going to use on you. _You_ , specifically, courtesy of Vlad Masters." She rolled her eyes. "I also took apart that chamber I used to hold you a while back." Sam's eyes widened at that, and she shot Danny a look that made him wince. Yeah, they would definitely be talking about that later.

He flipped open the book bag, surprised by the sheer amount of weapons that she had managed to cram into it. "Valerie," he shook his head, and tried to hand the bag back, "I can't take these. You—"

"—Will manage without it," Valerie finished. The tone she used left no room for arguments. "Just take it, Fenton. I'll be in touch. But right now," her eyes subconsciously snapped over to the ring on Sam's finger — the one that Danny had given to her once they officially started their relationship, "I really need to go hurt something."

She turned and stalked away, leaving Danny with the bag of weapons held out awkwardly in front of him. After a moment, Sam reached up, taking the bag from him. "I'll put them in my locker," she sighed, slinging it over her shoulder. "Danny, are you okay? I know that you weren't really expecting a day back like _this_. We can always leave if you want to," Sam suggested, but Danny was already shaking his head.

"No," he insisted. "This is… good. It's good. Progress." Danny managed a smile, holding out his hand for her to take. "What do you think? Ready to see if this day can get any more awkward?"

Sam fought back a smile for a moment and then sighed. She took his hand gladly. "Always."


	30. Day 30: Together

The date was May 10th. Jack knew this because he had been staring at his calendar with a frown on his face for almost ten minutes. He knew that he could be a little slow on the uptake — Vlad had always liked to tease him about how dense he was — but something was… eating at him.

He glanced over at Maddie. Maddie _Fenton_. His wife. Not the childish "girlfriend" or fiance anymore. The simple wedding band on her finger was glittering as she worked to untangle a set of wires. They had only been married a day, but even so, Jack still found himself dazed. How long did it take most couples to adjust to their new life together? Was it supposed to feel so uneasy?

His frown deepened.

"Mads," he spoke up, catching his wife's attention, "does this feel… wrong to you?"

She hesitated, and then set the wires down. In their small apartment together, they didn't have a lot of room for inventions and research, so she just left them on the counter with the other parts they had. "What do you mean, Jack?" She asked. "What feels wrong?"

Jack shrugged, looking away from her. He didn't usually talk about his feelings on things, mostly because he wasn't sure how valid they were. He was good at working with his hands, but he had been told by his parents, and then his teachers, and then his friends that his common sense, and lack thereof, left a lot to be desired. What if he was wrong? Maybe it was supposed to feel like this. He sighed.

"It just… it feels weird. Like none of this is real. Does that make sense?" He groaned and ran a hand over his face. "I mean, we barely had a wedding. Your sister came, and our parents, but… maybe we should have had a real ceremony. And a real celebration." He looked around their cheap apartment and grimaced. "This place… it's not a place for a married couple. We've talked about kids. Three, maybe?"

"Or four," Maddie reminded him gently, a patient smile on her face.

"Four," Jack agreed. "I just… how are we supposed to start a life together when we barely have a life to begin with?"

There was silence for a moment, and then Jack felt a hand on his arm. Maddie gave a gentle squeeze. "I've been… looking into a house." She murmured quietly. "It has to have a basement, for us to put the lab, and work on the portal, but other than that…" Her hand reached up to cup his cheek, and she leaned up to press their lips together gently. "How about I go get my laptop, and we can make the final decision together?" She suggested.

Jack smiled. He placed his hand over hers and gave a soft squeeze. "I would love to."

* * *

Jazz grimaced, a look of distaste on her face. She poked Danny's cheek, and he scrunched up his face, letting out a tiny sound between a cry and a coo.

"Princess, don't bother your brother," Jack scolded her lightly and patted her on the head. "Isn't he cute? Even smaller than you were when you were a baby." He had been worried that maybe Danny was too small, and had wanted Maddie to stay pregnant for a while longer, but the baby comes when it wants to come, not when the parents are ready for it.

He was smaller than Jack's hand though and didn't even have peach fuzz on top of his head like Jazz had had when she was born. Maddie kissed Danny on the cheek, rocking him gently and cooing until his scrunched up face calmed down, and he relaxed.

The wonder of a new baby seemed to be lost on Jazz. She stuck her tongue out. "It's… it's weird." She wasn't very good at pronouncing Ws yet, but Jack got the gist of what she was saying.

"Do you want to hold your little brother?" He asked. He figured that with him and Maddie both watching, Jazz would be okay to put her arms around Danny. It was their first day back from the hospital, and it would be smarter to get Jazz adjusted to the new addition to the family as soon as possible.

She didn't look like she knew how to answer that question, so Jack picked her up, setting her on the couch next to Maddie. Jazz giggled, automatically moving to be closer to her mother. She peered over Maddie's arms to look down at the blanket-wrapped child in her arms, and while she didn't say anything, there was confusion on her face.

"Jasmine, sweetie," Maddie spoke softly, catching the girl's attention, "this is your little brother, Danny. I want you to always protect him." She took Jazz's hand gently, carefully putting it over where Danny's chest was so that she could feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

Jack wasn't entirely sure if Jazz understood, but her face lit up. She placed her other hand next to the first, and leaned closer, taking a better look at Danny. "Okay," she said after a moment. Jazz didn't elaborate, but Jack smiled anyway. Somehow, he got the feeling that it was going to turn out alright.

* * *

The ringing in her ears faded very gradually. Maddie blinked slowly, watching the ceiling lights come into focus as she lay on the ground, dazed.

The portal prototype had exploded — again. It hadn't done that since before they had had kids. Naively, Maddie had assumed that they would be safe this time. There must have been something wrong with the math… she hadn't calibrated correctly for the way the portal would handle the pure ecto-energy they were trying to force on it. That meant it was back to the drawing board. Again. Great.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, her arms shaky. Her body felt sore, but a quick check told her that nothing was broken or severely damaged, which was more than she could say for the portal. A grimace came to Maddie's face at the sight of the charred, gaping hole in her basement wall. That was going to cost thousands to replace.

"Mommy!" Maddie was surprised to hear a worried and scared voice. She couldn't place the speaker through the ringing in her ears until Danny came running through the piles of debris towards her.

Too late, Maddie remembered all of the broken glass that must be covering the floor, and the exposed wires, and the metal shards. She couldn't seem to get her brain to work with her body well enough to tell her son to stay back. Danny didn't seem to notice any danger, and dropped into her lap, worming his way into Maddie's arms.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Her voice sounded thick, but Maddie did her best to sound perfectly calm, for Danny's sake. She brushed his thick mop of black hair away from his eyes, planting a kiss on the tip of his nose. "What has you worried, Danny?"

He clutched at the fabric of her jumpsuit tighter. "I… I heard the loud noise…" he mumbled. There was a quiet sniffle, and Maddie stiffened as she realized that her son was crying. "Jazz said tha' you'd be mad if I came down, but I wanted t' make sure tha' you 'nd daddy were okay…"

Maddie swallowed the lump in her throat and took a deep breath. "We're fine, Danny. You're very sweet to come check on us." She kissed him on the forehead and brushed away the tears gathering in his eyes with the pad of her thumb.

Luckily, Jack had left just a few minutes prior to purchase a few parts for a side project. Which meant that Maddie had a few minutes to get her bearings before Jack started freaking out and worrying about her needlessly. She noticed that Jazz hadn't been as good at listening as she wanted Danny to be — Maddie's little seven year old was going her best to hide at the foot of the stairs, peeking in on her mother.

"Jazz, honey, come here," Maddie sighed. She moved Danny in her arms to make room for her daughter. Jazz hesitated for a moment, but once she had permission, she gladly ran over to her mom. Maddie was just glad that her children were wearing their shoes.

She wrapped her arms around them, holding Danny and Jazz against her while they all calmed down. What kind of life did she lead, that her children had to worry about their mom getting blown up? It wasn't a pleasant thought.

Maddie made a mental note to talk to Jack about their priorities once he got back.

* * *

"Jack, have you noticed how… distant Danny's been lately?" Maddie asked, staring at the cup of coffee clasped in her hands. It had long since gone cold, but she didn't have the heart to go upstairs and get another cup.

From the workbench, Jack grunted. There was a frown of concentration on his face as he worked, trying to find the perfect way for the metal sheets to fit together before he welded them that way. "Oh, that's normal for teenagers," Jack shrugged. "Danny's a good kid. You don't need to worry about him, Mads. He'll grow out of it."

Maddie nodded, and managed a smile, though Jack wasn't looking at her. "I suppose you're right…" she sighed.

Jack hummed in recognition and slid his goggles on to protect his eyes as he lit the welding torch and continued working on their latest idea. It was a launcher for a special net that she had invented herself — the net was coated with an ecto-residue that would absorb the power a ghost put out and convert it for use in strengthening the net. In simpler terms, it was designed to hold a ghost of any power level. Specifically, it was meant for Phantom. When designing it, Maddie had felt certain that it would hold him. But now, she felt unsure, like so many other things in her life.

She stood up and left Jack to work while she went upstairs. Even though Jack had advised her not to worry, she couldn't help but be concerned for Danny. It had been three months since the Accident, and while all of his doctors promised her over and over that he was in perfect physical condition, no one could really be certain how deep the internal scars ran. He had gotten so skittish, and so afraid to be around her. What if he never grew out of that? What if her little boy was going to be distant and afraid for the rest of his life?

A sound from the kitchen distracted her, and Maddie paused at the top of the stairs. She heard glasses clinking together, and a drink being poured. It was late — Danny and Jazz should have been in bed hours ago.

She pushed open the basement door and wasn't surprised to see Danny shuffling around the kitchen in his pajamas. There was a cup of coffee clutched in his hands, and he stared out the kitchen window as he sipped it gingerly. A lecture about the effects of caffeine on children came to Maddie's mind, but she didn't have the energy to chew Danny out. Coffee wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was better than catching him doing drugs, at any rate.

"Danny?" Maddie took a few steps closer to him. For the sake of both of their sanities, she pretended not to notice when he flinched at the sound of his name. "Sweetie, it's almost eleven. Are you having trouble sleeping?" She put a hand on his shoulder, and her face fell into a frown as he shrugged her hand off.

He shifted away from her and seemed to almost curl in on himself. "'M fine," he mumbled, staring fixedly at the tile floor. "I'm just… staying up doing a last minute project Lancer assigned us. Sorry about taking up your coffee."

Maddie chose not to call him out on his blatant lie. They both knew that if she went upstairs, his desk would be just as clear as it had been the entire year, and his homework would be unfinished and untouched in his back, the same as it had been since he got it.

She sighed. "Danny…" Maddie reached a hand out to place on his shoulder, but drew back at the last second, worry creasing her face. "Danny, you know that your father and I love you and that we only want what's best for you, don't you?" She wanted so badly to hold her son close like she used to, but she held herself back.

The question made Danny stiffen, and Maddie racked her brain trying to figure out why. Was it the Accident? After all, she and Jack were the ones who had built the portal in the first place. Had Danny lost faith in their capabilities as parents? She didn't want to believe that, but what other explanation could there be? They had given Danny all the space he wanted, they tried to be there when he would let them and keep him and Jazz safe, but he only seemed to be getting more and more distant. _What was she doing wrong_?

Danny gave the faintest twitch of his head, a sort of nod. He took a long sip from his coffee mug. "Yeah," he replied after a moment. "Yeah, mom, I… I know. I love you, too."

She could tell that he meant it, but something wasn't the same. He wouldn't even meet her gaze anymore, and his statement sounded rehearsed and practiced, rather than sincere. It broke her heart.

When she couldn't take it anymore and pulled Danny into a hug, he didn't flinch or push her away. Instead, he brought his arms up to hug Maddie back. And somehow, that hurt even more.

* * *

Even before she had explored science as a future career option, Maddie had always thought herself to be a logical woman. She valued facts and data over feelings and emotion any day and had for most of her life.

Maybe that was why it had taken her so long to see what had been so plainly laid out before her.

She had always tried to filter out emotions, but she had let hers overwhelm her. Not Danny. Not _her_ Danny. He was her baby boy. Her son, who had been born so fragile and tiny, who had never been quite as smart as his sister, who was so happy with the world, so bright and full of energy, who always ran away from ghosts and danger, who had the sweetest heart of anyone she had ever known…

Her son, who should have died when the ghost portal electrocuted him that fateful day.

He looked like a cornered animal, his blue eyes big with fear as he looked for a way out. But there was none. He was injured, too weak to simply sink through the walls, and Maddie was too horrified with her own actions to do anything other than stare, shell-shocked.

The gun in her hands clattered to the floor. Danny winced at the sudden sound, and Maddie felt self-loathing curl so tightly in her chest that she couldn't breathe. She had shot her son. She had shot Danny, her darling boy, _the ghost boy_ , who had always been protecting her, even if she had refused to admit it.

Hatred and love had blinded her from the same truth. In a way, Maddie felt that she had always known it was true. She just hadn't wanted to acknowledge it until she had blown a hole in her son's leg.

What kind of awful mother was she?

Biting back tears, Maddie stalked forward.

She ignored the way Danny recoiled from her touch, she ignored the fear in his eyes, ignored his protests and attempts to push her away. Maddie tore off his pant leg, glaring determinedly at the wound she had left. Luckily, his ghost powers had done an excellent job at last-minute healing. She assumed that the sudden shock of the wound, on top of Danny's inexperience, had caused his body to put all of his energy into fixing the injury and forced him to revert to his human form as a result. The scientist part of her was fascinated, but the part of Maddie that was a mother was much bigger and much louder.

The wound was going to scar (she had to take a deep breath to calm herself at the thought), but as long as she got it stitched, there wouldn't be any serious damage.

Emotions would come later. She could sob, break down, and beg for Danny's forgiveness once she was sure that her little boy was going to be alright. Maddie gathered her raw feelings and shoved them away.

Without a word, she took Danny into her arms, holding him against her chest. He felt so light, and Maddie felt another guilty clench in her gut. How had she let herself turn a blind eye to this? He ate so much, she had just assumed that it was due to his rapid growth. She had never thought that he was only providing his body with the energy that he needed to fight ghosts day and night. It explained everything — how distant he was, his slipping grades, the constant excuses, and so much more.

Her son had _died_ in that portal accident, and foolishly, Maddie had believed that it would be alright — as if things could just go back to normal after something like _that_.

"I'm so sorry, Danny," she murmured against the top of his head. Sorry wasn't enough. There wasn't a word in the English language that could describe just how pathetically, desperately _sorry_ she was.

For a moment, Maddie thought that Danny hadn't heard her. But then he brought one arm up, and put it around her neck, leaning against her. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to.

It almost made Maddie start crying. She didn't deserve his forgiveness. After all that she and Jack had done… No wonder he had never told them. She wouldn't have either, in his position. The last thing that Maddie wanted was Danny to hate her, but somehow, his understanding only made it worse.

She pressed a kiss to the top of Danny's head.

If he could forgive her, then Maddie was going to need to work on becoming someone worth forgiving.


	31. Day 31: Free Day

"No, Danny." Sam pushed him back down against his bed with a firm glare on her face. "You are _going_ to get some rest. Today is your free day — every superhero needs one occasionally."

"And this superhero really needs some sleep," Tucker added in. "Don't worry so much, dude. We've fought ghosts with you for long enough to know what we're doing. Check it — me, Sam, and Jazz all have a Fenton Thermos and weapons of choice." He held up the Fenton Lipstick, which doubled as an ectolaser. Sam showed her wrist, where she was brandishing a miniature blaster. "Jazz has the Jack-O'-Nine-Tails," Tucker stated, "so there's nothing to worry about. Jazz is covering for you so you're parents don't bug you. And Valerie is always patrolling the streets for ghosts, so between her, your parents, and us all fighting, you should be fine to just take the day off." He finished proudly.

Danny sighed, but seeing as how he had already tried to sit up five times already, just gave in and relaxed against his bed. "I don't see why this is necessary," he protested. "I get plenty of sleep and rest! This is just putting people in unnecessary danger."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

The question made Danny avert his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't want to answer, but he took a deep breath anyway. "I got four hours," he muttered, crossing his arms. "But that doesn't—"

"And when was the last time you did any homework?" She cut in. Danny opened his mouth to reply, but just as quickly shut it. "Danny, the bags under your eyes look more like bruises. You're covered in bumps and scratches, your grades are so low that I'm surprised they haven't kicked you out of school, and we haven't had a day to hang out together as teenagers in _months_." She wasn't shouting, and it was obvious that Sam wasn't angry, but Danny still shrank back at her words, and his face fell.

"...I'm sorry," Danny mumbled. Sam's stern expression softened.

She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't apologize." Sam shook her head. "You just push yourself too far sometimes, Danny. Look, a free day to sleep and catch up on a few assignments can't kill you. Calm down, and try to enjoy yourself for once. Here." She handed him a little pager, and Danny looked up at her quizzically. "It's to contact us," Sam said simply. "If your ghost sense goes off, just press this, and we'll be here as soon as we can. Don't try to engage, okay? Self-defense is fine, you just… you really need to relax, Danny."

He looked between Sam and Tucker, distressed, but then finally had to sigh. His friends looked so worried, and he couldn't bear the thought of disappointing them when they obviously cared about him. "Yeah, alright…" He sank down on his bed and pulled the covers over himself. It was seven in the morning on a Sunday — Danny's typical schedule was to get up, get dressed, and hang out with Sam and Tucker until it got darker when they would patrol the streets for any ghost activity. But unfortunately, it seemed that his schedule for the day had been tossed out. Now, he was just supposed to lounge around all day.

It was going to make him stir crazy.

Sam ran her hand through his hair and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. Danny managed a small smile in response. "We'll see you tomorrow for school," she promised.

She walked towards Danny's door, and Tucker shot him a grin. "I'm not gonna kiss you, dude, but you get the gist. Let yourself relax for once." He followed after Sam, narrowly missing the elbow she jabbed in his gut. They shut Danny's bedroom door behind them with a soft click.

Great.

Danny sighed, staring up at his ceiling with a frustrated frown. He turned the pager over in his hand idly. They were just being ridiculous — he didn't need a day off. Heroes didn't take days off. Still… if it was to ease his friends' concerns, he supposed that staying in bed for _one day_ wouldn't hurt anything.

The only problem with that was that Danny was now bored. What was he supposed to do? He tried to sleep, but that only got him to sit still for two minutes before he started shifting unhappily. He wanted to be moving and doing something productive, not laying in bed all day like every other teenager in the city.

He got up and grabbed his backpack, dragging it over to his desk. Homework. Right. He pulled his binder out and flipped through some of the stuff that had been assigned on Friday. Math was first.

Danny stared at the worksheet for a few minutes without really processing it. He didn't recognize any of the work that he was supposed to be doing. Converting degrees into radians? What did that even mean? He tried to look at his notes for answers until he remembered that he didn't have any notes. He had excused himself to go to the bathroom during math and never bothered to get the notes from Sam or Tucker like he usually did. Actually, when was the last time he did that? Danny frowned. He had never really thought about it, but he hadn't asked either of his friends for notes in _months_. Uneasy now, he set the math aside and turned to something else.

English was easy. He just had to write like Shakespeare, with a lot of syllables and poofy words. He felt better once he was done with that, and after the shakeup with the math, it was nice to have something go so smoothly. Especially considering that he didn't remember being assigned the project in the first place.

He was halfway through his biology homework (a chart on population percentages for different countries organized by gender and age) when his ghost sense went off.

It didn't take long to figure out what ghost it was. He was considering paging Sam and Tucker, but the sound of a motorcycle engine roaring outside his window just made him roll his eyes. Johnny 13 was annoying, sure, but as long as he didn't get angry and send his Shadow after anyway, he really was harmless. Danny thought about going after him but figured it was best not to. If he was having more relationship drama with Kitty, then Danny wanted nothing to do with it.

He was content to ignore it until the motorcycle engine cut off, and the temperature in Danny's room dropped by fifteen degrees. It didn't affect Danny, thanks to his ghost core, but he still noticed.

With a sigh, he turned in his desk to look at the ghost standing in the middle of his room. "What do you want, Johnny?" He asked dryly. "Stealing candy from babies got boring?"

Johnny put a hand over his chest, an expression of mock hurt on his face. "Low blow, kid. I just dropped by to see if you felt like another chance. Kitty's outside watching the bike." He held his hand up and grinned as an ectoplasmic energy ball coalesced in his palm. "I'll give you a head start."

Danny rolled his eyes, turning back to his paper. "I can't," he muttered. "Today's my day off, apparently. My friends aren't letting me go ghost. Can't you find something else to entertain you for the day?" He asked bitterly. Chasing off Johnny and Kitty would be a great stress-reliever, but he had agreed to Sam and Tucker's terms, and he didn't want to betray their trust.

He heard footsteps, and to his surprise, felt Johnny standing behind him. He leaned over Danny's shoulder to squint at the school work, and then scoffed, straightening back up. "Great," he rolled his eyes. "For a second, I almost thought you were cool, but you're just as dull as every other human. Catch you some other time, ghost kid. I'm gone." He phased through Danny's wall, and a moment later, there was the sound of an engine turning over and then fading into the distance.

Privately, Danny felt that that was almost too easy. But if Johnny felt like leaving him alone, then Danny wasn't going to complain. He turned back to his homework.

It was dull, and nowhere near as substantial as protecting the town, but Danny figured that he owed it to himself to at least try it. His grades were barely passable. Even through all of the ghost fighting, Danny still felt that he wanted to try going to college. He wanted to try a normal life. If he didn't keep pushing for that, he wasn't sure what he would do. The idea of living only to fight was… terrifying. He could see why Sam had been worried. Danny wasn't a machine, and he needed rest and relaxation as much as anyone else.

That helped him feel a bit better. As jarring as it could be, the occasional, casual reminders that Danny was still human were nice. It was cool to just remember that.

Homework kept him busy for about five more minutes. Danny finished with biology and decided to ignore the stacks of paper and books in his bag that had been untouched since he first crammed them in there.

It was… weird. The house was completely quiet, save the faint humming of the air conditioner in the background. Jazz was out helping Tucker and Sam with ghosts and also keeping their parents busy. He was home alone, and he had no idea what to do. What did normal kids do when they were left alone? Danny hadn't been by himself for so long, it felt almost surreal. He usually had a ghost he was fighting, or Sam and Tucker were glued at his hip, or his parents were embarrassing him, or Jazz was breathing down his neck in her overbearing but not entirely unwelcome sisterly manner.

It felt wrong to be alone.

Danny thought about playing video games, but it wasn't the same without Tucker and Sam raging next to him. He could go down into the lab and see what his parents were working on, but with them gone, it felt oddly invasive to do that. More determined now, Danny headed downstairs. He had to have _something_ around the house that he could do. He refused to believe that his life was so ghost-centered that he was incapable of relaxation.

He tried grabbing a book from the shelf in their living room, but that didn't pan out. Danny didn't read books recreationally like Jazz and his parents, so they were all the choices of his family. There was scientific lectures, leather-bound books that were huge and dusty, books about psychology, anatomy, ghosts, ghost hunting, ghost language… None of which Danny wanted anything to do with. He thought about going through his parents' books on ghost speak to circle everything that was wrong, but on the off chance that they decided to go through their books, he didn't want them to question why their son was fluent in a language that humans barely grasped. All of his comic books were old and worn from the number of times he had read and reread them, and after living the superhero life, something about the comic book portrayal of them seemed… romanticized.

Where was the exhaustion? The stress and anxiety? How did the superheroes in Danny's comic books ever get any sleep? Weren't they kept up by nightmares? Or the way their body ached from scars and bruises every time they moved?

The thought made Danny grimace. This was why he didn't like to be alone — it brought all of the thoughts he could usually avoid to the very forefront of his mind. It was nice of his friends to want to give him a day off. Danny just wished that he hadn't been left alone.

He walked over to the couch and sat down. Watching TV felt so mundane. Danny couldn't remember the last time he had watched a channel besides the news. Hadn't he enjoyed cartoons, once? It felt like a lifetime ago.

He turned the TV on and settled in to watch. There was some Spanish soap opera playing, and Danny didn't feel like getting up to find the remote. He wrapped himself in a blanket and leaned against the arm of the couch, only half paying attention.

"¡No puedo creer que me hicieras esto! Tan pronto como descubras que estoy embarazada, ¿me dejas por otra mujer?" The woman (who Danny guessed was the main female lead) was in very fake tears.

The man she was yelling at laughed, even though Danny was pretty sure that the woman hadn't been trying to be funny. "¡Sí! Pero no solo cualquier mujer. ¡Estoy enamorada de tu hermana gemela!" He replied, and laughed again.

The woman gasped, and the sorrow on her face turned to shock and anger. "¡Pero sabes que ella es malvada!"

Suddenly, another woman walked into the room, a smirk on her face. She looked just like the first woman, so Danny chalked it up to green screens. Even twins didn't look like they had been reproduced via budding — there was no way to differentiate the two woman, aside from clothing.

The second woman pulled out a gun and leveled it at the first one. "¿Soy yo?" She narrowed her eyes. "¿O nos has estado mintiendo a todos nosotros y a ti mismo todo este tiempo?"

Danny assumed that a very dramatic twist must have just happened, because the first woman gasped, and the camera zoomed in on her face before the credits began rolling. He wasn't sure what had happened, but it didn't matter. It looked like the series was being marathoned, and it made great background noise.

He closed his eyes as the drama unfolded onscreen, and let the Spanish go in one ear and out the other. It was a pleasing sounding language, and Danny was surprised by how easy it was to relax with the steady hum of white noise in his ears.

Sleepily, Danny wondered why more ghosts hadn't shown up to bother him. He thought that maybe Johnny might have told them to stay away for the day, but that would just be ridiculous. It wasn't like Johnny cared. It wasn't like any of the ghosts _really_ cared…

It barely took more than five minutes for Danny to be fast asleep.

* * *

It was late when Jazz got home, and she was exhausted. A day of running around, catching ghosts, and keeping her parents from checking up on Danny was enough to make anyone tired. She had essays she needed to finish, and friends to check up on, and chores to do, dinner to cook… She wasn't sure how Danny could do this every day.

She stepped inside, taking her shoes off, removing her jacket, and hanging her car keys up on a hook on the wall. Never again. She hoped that Danny had had a better day than her. Her body hurt all over, and despite her best efforts, she was certain that there was still ectoplasm in her hair.

Her parents had gone after one last ghost for the night, and Jazz had taken the opportunity to turn in for the night, along with Sam and Tucker. They had wanted to check up on Danny, but Jazz had made them go home. They needed sleep too, after all, and they would see Danny on Monday at school like they always did.

Jazz started up the stairs but then paused. The sound of the TV had covered it up, but she was positive now that someone was snoring. She had just assumed that her dad had accidentally left the TV on again, but when she walked into the room, she was surprised to see Danny laying on the couch, asleep.

She smiled fondly, walking over to him. Gently, Jazz brushed some of the hair out of his face, looking down at her brother. When he was sleeping, he looked almost like a different person. Even Danny didn't seem to realize how tense and paranoid he was all the time. Asleep, he looked five years younger, easily. She picked up the blanket that was on the floor, draping it over him and tucking it against the couch so that it would stay in place this time.

"Get some sleep, little brother," Jazz muttered. She turned the TV off and walked back over to Danny. Careful not to wake him up, she bent over and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

A fond smile on her face, Jazz left the room and let him sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, and that makes 31. I can't believe I did all of this while juggling finals. If it helps, I only got a D on one of them, and I still have an A in that class overall. Props to only having two Bs, right? The rest is As. I'm pretty proud of that, though I wish that I could have managed to bring those Bs up before school ended.**

 **Anyway, while I was doing all of that school shit, I've also been working on more Danny Phantom works. I've got more coming so don't worry, guys.**

 **Thanks to anyone who got through all of these, and left a nice comment. You guys are the reason why I write so much.**


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